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"content": "\u003cp>If bagels are a New York thing, San Francisco definitely has sourdough. And probably no one has convinced more people that our sourdough is unique than \u003ca href=\"https://www.boudinbakery.com/\">Boudin Bakery\u003c/a>, where tourists line up at Fisherman’s Wharf for a taste of that moist-tangy, fogbound delight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area native (and KQED staffer) Peter Cavagnaro has been eating local sourdough all his life. It’s his favorite bread. And that got him wondering about something. He asked\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\"> Bay Curious\u003c/a>….\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“What makes San Francisco sourdough so unique?”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here at KQED, we’ve always heard there’s something in the water or the air that makes our sourdough special. But is that really true?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It turns out that this is as much a science question as it is about the history and local mythology of our “authentic” local sourdough. By the time I had the answer, I also had 2 pounds of smelly homemade sourdough starter fermenting at home, \u003cem>and\u003c/em> the results of a lab test that described the microbes living in it.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Taste the Microbes\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>To understand what makes our bread taste the way it does, you need to know how bread gets started. My investigation began in the fermentation room at \u003ca href=\"https://www.semifreddis.com/\">Semifreddi’s\u003c/a> bakery in Alameda, one of the best-known local producers of sourdough, along with \u003ca href=\"http://www.acmebread.com/\">Acme Bread Company\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.tartinebakery.com/\">Tartine Bakery\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fermentation room is the inner sanctum of the bakery. It’s a very cold, stainless-steel vault where 300 yellow buckets brim with slow-bubbling beige goop: future sourdough. I stood there, shivering in a hairnet, with co-owner Mike Rose and head baker John Tredgold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rose is a soft-spoken man who talks about sourdough with wonderment, as if it’s alive — which it is, with millions of microbes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Can you hear it? It’s hungry,” Rose said. “It will be fed later today. It gets fed once a day. Equal parts flour and water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before sourdough gets baked, it has to be grown. Born as a primordial glop, aptly called starter. All it needs to grow, as Rose said, is flour and water. And time. That’s it. If you add anything else, it’s not real sourdough. Eventually, the sugars in the flour start to break down, and fermentation happens on its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tredgold handed me a plastic spoon and pointed me to a bucket. I could see bubbles rising to the surface of the bucket — a sure sign of microbial activity. The starter tasted like very sour yogurt to me, but Tredgold treated the experience like tasting a fine wine, smelling and savoring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is more like creme fraiche,” he said. “It makes you salivate, it makes you excited to eat more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11405274\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11405274\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-800x1067.jpeg\" alt=\"The author's starter, looking healthy with lots of air pockets.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-800x1067.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-1020x1360.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-1920x2560.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-1180x1573.jpeg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-960x1280.jpeg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-240x320.jpeg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-375x500.jpeg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-520x693.jpeg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The author’s starter, looking healthy with lots of air pockets. \u003ccite>(Julia Scott/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Flour, Water, Temperature, Time\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Semifreddi’s produces 9,500 loaves of sourdough each day. But no two loaves taste exactly alike. And that’s because the starter is alive with millions of wild yeast cells and naturally occurring bacteria. The yeast makes the bread rise. And the bacteria create the acids that make the bread sour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The flavors vary from day to day, and batch to batch. Sourdough is one of the most \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourdough#History\">ancient breads\u003c/a>, dating back at least 5,000 years. It’s reasonably easy to create a starter from scratch, but tricky to master the triple arts of crust, crumb and flavor when baking. So much depends on capturing enough wild yeast to make the bread light and airy. (Adding commercial yeast is not a permitted technique at the baking stage if the goal is authentic, old-fashioned sourdough).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We try to control it by temperature and time. And our hands. It’s never fully totally under control, because we’re dealing with natural organisms,” said Rose. “I love it,” he added with a grin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rose was so passionate that I decided to try growing my own sourdough starter at home (more on that below).\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Boudin Lore\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A little voice nagged at me, though. Anyone can make sourdough, but would it be \u003cem>authentic\u003c/em> if it wasn’t born in San Francisco? (I live in Oakland).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No one has convinced more people about the unique qualities of San Francisco sourdough than Boudin, which says it’s been selling the same loaf of bread for 168 years. According to the Boudin Bakery museum at Fisherman’s Wharf, the company’s mother dough follows an unbroken line back to the Gold Rush in 1849. Louise Boudin even saved the starter from a burning building in the 1906 earthquake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11431554\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11431554\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-800x531.jpg\" alt=\"Boudin Bakery says their decades-old starter is the key to the bread's flavor.\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-1920x1275.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-1180x784.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-960x638.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-240x159.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-375x249.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-520x345.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Boudin Bakery says their decades-old starter is the key to the bread’s flavor. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelhathaway/4945590922/\" target=\"_blank\">Rachel Hathaway\u003c/a>/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A museum docent told me the starter is so special and irreplaceable that the Boudin mothership sends its retail stores fresh starter every 23 days. Without it, they say the sourdough those stores produce would stop tasting like San Francisco sourdough and start tasting like San Diego or Sacramento sourdough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why? Well, according to the museum, Boudin bread owes its special flavor to a strain of bacteria that thrives only in San Francisco’s climate. Scientists \u003ca href=\"http://discovermagazine.com/2003/sep/featscienceof\">identified it here \u003c/a>in 1970, so they named it \u003cem>Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Not That Unique, Actually\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>It’s a great story. Too bad it’s not quite true.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists did identify\u003cem> Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis\u003c/em> here. But recent studies have found it in up to \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/dining/for-gastronomists-a-go-to-microbiologist.html\">90 percent of countries \u003c/a>where sourdough is produced. So from a biological standpoint, San Francisco sourdough is not all that distinctive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s something that everyone thinks is unique to San Francisco and that is not true at all,” said Ben Wolfe, a microbiologist at Tufts University in Boston. \u003ca href=\"https://sites.tufts.edu/wolfelab/\">His lab studies fermentation\u003c/a> full time … including the microbes you find in sourdough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, case closed? Not quite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5xOpss4j5E&t=56s\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Science is still learning about the lactic acid bacteria (like\u003cem> L. sanfranciscensis\u003c/em>) that give sourdough its main sour flavor. Other fermented foods have lactic acids, too, like miso, yogurt and kimchi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But scientists don’t know where they come from. Or how they get into your sourdough starter when you make it in your kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11403523\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11403523\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.31.58-AM-e1492027997490-800x437.png\" alt=\"Colonies of bacteria found in the author's sourdough starter, magnified 1,000 times. \" width=\"800\" height=\"437\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.31.58-AM-e1492027997490-800x437.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.31.58-AM-e1492027997490-160x87.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.31.58-AM-e1492027997490-240x131.png 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.31.58-AM-e1492027997490-375x205.png 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.31.58-AM-e1492027997490-520x284.png 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.31.58-AM-e1492027997490.png 894w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Colonies of bacteria found in the author’s sourdough starter, magnified 1,000 times. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Wolfe Lab at Tufts University)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One explanation is that the bacteria could be in the flour to begin with. So when you go to the store and buy a bag of flour, it’s not sterile. They could also be on your skin or floating around your kitchen, but Wolfe says those are less likely to become the dominant bacteria in your starter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is one of the big questions we’re trying to answer in our story of American sourdough: Where are the lactic acid bacteria coming from?” said Wolfe.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Sourdough Project\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There’s never been a large-scale study in home kitchens to really identify the sources of bacteria at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wolfe’s lab has partnered with the Rob Dunn Lab at North Carolina State University on \u003ca href=\"http://robdunnlab.com/projects/sourdough/\">the Sourdough Project\u003c/a>, the first comprehensive effort to test the DNA of sourdough starters across America — and understand the evolutionary biology that underlies the differences among starters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11403524\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 548px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11403524\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.32.25-AM-e1492028037372.png\" alt=\"A colony of yeast from the author's sourdough starter under the microscope. \" width=\"548\" height=\"301\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.32.25-AM-e1492028037372.png 548w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.32.25-AM-e1492028037372-160x88.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.32.25-AM-e1492028037372-240x132.png 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.32.25-AM-e1492028037372-375x206.png 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.32.25-AM-e1492028037372-520x286.png 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 548px) 100vw, 548px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A colony of yeast from the author’s sourdough starter under the microscope. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Wolfe Lab at Tufts University)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Sourdough Project is soliciting hundreds of sourdough starter samples from amateur and professional bread bakers across the country. (To participate in this public science project, get started by filling out \u003ca href=\"https://designscience.wufoo.com/forms/p1pgrbjq05dzces/\">this questionnaire\u003c/a>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists will analyze samples to answer the baseline question: How variable are the microbes from region to region? And how much variability can be attributed to the grain of the bread, versus the air, the water or the humans involved?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are so many factors. Wolfe ticks them off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It could be the time that people ferment their breads. It could be the temperature. It could be a special set of recipes used in San Francisco than in other places.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I told him I was growing my own sourdough starter, he offered to analyze it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So while science may yet discover something special is lurking in our sourdough, Wolfe isn’t holding his breath.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not even the bakers at Semifreddi’s, a company that has been in a position to benefit from the reputation of local sourdough, embrace the cachet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Semifreddi’s head baker Tredgold says it’s pure marketing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It sells the city. It’s one of the things the city’s known for. The bridge, the bay, the sourdough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Rose, the co-owner of the bakery, added: “If we take our local starter and bake with it in Los Angeles, I think it will taste very similar to what we’re making here,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blasphemy! But possibly … true.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>My Kitchen Sourdough Experiment: Results\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>My own sourdough experiment lasted more than a month. I used King Arthur whole wheat flour and kept my mixture on the kitchen counter. As it grew, it smelled distressingly like vomit before it mellowed. At one point it almost spilled out of the Tupperware I’d been keeping it in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As my starter matured, it needed to be fed twice a day on a regular schedule. I raced home from work to give it more flour and water, spoke to it, and pampered it with field trips out to the balcony to give it some exposure to the Oakland atmosphere. (In spite of what I learned about the uncertainty of the science of microbes in sourdough, I still pictured my starter capturing beneficial wild yeast and bacteria from the atmosphere.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t have pets or children, so I took photos of my starter’s regular maturity and forced my friends to admire them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11403508\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11403508\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-1020x765.jpg\" alt=\"The author's sourdough bread was a bit dense, but tasters said the flavor was spot on.\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The author’s sourdough bread was a bit dense, but tasters said the flavor was spot on. \u003ccite>(Julia Scott/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the most important question was: How did it taste? I baked two little loaves and brought them into the KQED newsroom to get some brutally honest feedback from fellow reporters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Being a first-time baker, you can imagine how this went. The loaves were so dense they had almost no air pockets. They weighed at least 3 pounds and were nearly rock-hard. My colleagues at KQED charitably praised the taste, but it was clear something had gone wrong in the baking process … or with the starter itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11431549\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11431549\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-1020x765.jpeg\" alt=\"Julia Scott, left, and Bay Curious podcast host Olivia Allen-Price enjoy the fruits of Scott's labor -- some homemade sourdough bread.\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-1920x1440.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-1180x885.jpeg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-960x720.jpeg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-240x180.jpeg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-375x281.jpeg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-520x390.jpeg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453.jpeg 2016w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Julia Scott, left, and Bay Curious podcast host Olivia Allen-Price enjoy the fruits of Scott’s labor — some homemade sourdough bread. \u003ccite>(Vinnee Tong/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A few weeks later, I got my sourdough DNA results back from Ben Wolfe’s Tufts lab. My starter had two bacterial species: \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactobacillus_brevis\">\u003cem> Lactobacillus brevis \u003c/em>\u003c/a>and \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactobacillus_plantarum\"> Lactobacillus plantarum\u003c/a>;\u003c/em> and one yeast species: \u003ca href=\"http://genome.jgi.doe.gov/Wican1/Wican1.home.html\">\u003cem>Wickerhamomyces anomalus\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. All of which are very commonly found in sourdough starters made around the world, according to Wolfe. It’s also common to have no more than a few species of yeast and bacteria in any given starter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that one bacterium once believed to make our bread so special — \u003cem>Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis\u003c/em>? My bread didn’t have any. Would things have gone differently if it had shown up? I may never know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If bagels are a New York thing, San Francisco definitely has sourdough. And probably no one has convinced more people that our sourdough is unique than \u003ca href=\"https://www.boudinbakery.com/\">Boudin Bakery\u003c/a>, where tourists line up at Fisherman’s Wharf for a taste of that moist-tangy, fogbound delight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area native (and KQED staffer) Peter Cavagnaro has been eating local sourdough all his life. It’s his favorite bread. And that got him wondering about something. He asked\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\"> Bay Curious\u003c/a>….\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“What makes San Francisco sourdough so unique?”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here at KQED, we’ve always heard there’s something in the water or the air that makes our sourdough special. But is that really true?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It turns out that this is as much a science question as it is about the history and local mythology of our “authentic” local sourdough. By the time I had the answer, I also had 2 pounds of smelly homemade sourdough starter fermenting at home, \u003cem>and\u003c/em> the results of a lab test that described the microbes living in it.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Taste the Microbes\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>To understand what makes our bread taste the way it does, you need to know how bread gets started. My investigation began in the fermentation room at \u003ca href=\"https://www.semifreddis.com/\">Semifreddi’s\u003c/a> bakery in Alameda, one of the best-known local producers of sourdough, along with \u003ca href=\"http://www.acmebread.com/\">Acme Bread Company\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.tartinebakery.com/\">Tartine Bakery\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fermentation room is the inner sanctum of the bakery. It’s a very cold, stainless-steel vault where 300 yellow buckets brim with slow-bubbling beige goop: future sourdough. I stood there, shivering in a hairnet, with co-owner Mike Rose and head baker John Tredgold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rose is a soft-spoken man who talks about sourdough with wonderment, as if it’s alive — which it is, with millions of microbes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Can you hear it? It’s hungry,” Rose said. “It will be fed later today. It gets fed once a day. Equal parts flour and water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before sourdough gets baked, it has to be grown. Born as a primordial glop, aptly called starter. All it needs to grow, as Rose said, is flour and water. And time. That’s it. If you add anything else, it’s not real sourdough. Eventually, the sugars in the flour start to break down, and fermentation happens on its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tredgold handed me a plastic spoon and pointed me to a bucket. I could see bubbles rising to the surface of the bucket — a sure sign of microbial activity. The starter tasted like very sour yogurt to me, but Tredgold treated the experience like tasting a fine wine, smelling and savoring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is more like creme fraiche,” he said. “It makes you salivate, it makes you excited to eat more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11405274\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11405274\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-800x1067.jpeg\" alt=\"The author's starter, looking healthy with lots of air pockets.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-800x1067.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-1020x1360.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-1920x2560.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-1180x1573.jpeg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-960x1280.jpeg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-240x320.jpeg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-375x500.jpeg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/starter-e1492028179160-520x693.jpeg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The author’s starter, looking healthy with lots of air pockets. \u003ccite>(Julia Scott/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Flour, Water, Temperature, Time\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Semifreddi’s produces 9,500 loaves of sourdough each day. But no two loaves taste exactly alike. And that’s because the starter is alive with millions of wild yeast cells and naturally occurring bacteria. The yeast makes the bread rise. And the bacteria create the acids that make the bread sour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The flavors vary from day to day, and batch to batch. Sourdough is one of the most \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourdough#History\">ancient breads\u003c/a>, dating back at least 5,000 years. It’s reasonably easy to create a starter from scratch, but tricky to master the triple arts of crust, crumb and flavor when baking. So much depends on capturing enough wild yeast to make the bread light and airy. (Adding commercial yeast is not a permitted technique at the baking stage if the goal is authentic, old-fashioned sourdough).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We try to control it by temperature and time. And our hands. It’s never fully totally under control, because we’re dealing with natural organisms,” said Rose. “I love it,” he added with a grin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rose was so passionate that I decided to try growing my own sourdough starter at home (more on that below).\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Boudin Lore\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A little voice nagged at me, though. Anyone can make sourdough, but would it be \u003cem>authentic\u003c/em> if it wasn’t born in San Francisco? (I live in Oakland).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No one has convinced more people about the unique qualities of San Francisco sourdough than Boudin, which says it’s been selling the same loaf of bread for 168 years. According to the Boudin Bakery museum at Fisherman’s Wharf, the company’s mother dough follows an unbroken line back to the Gold Rush in 1849. Louise Boudin even saved the starter from a burning building in the 1906 earthquake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11431554\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11431554\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-800x531.jpg\" alt=\"Boudin Bakery says their decades-old starter is the key to the bread's flavor.\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-1920x1275.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-1180x784.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-960x638.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-240x159.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-375x249.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/4945590922_813a0a546c_o-520x345.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Boudin Bakery says their decades-old starter is the key to the bread’s flavor. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelhathaway/4945590922/\" target=\"_blank\">Rachel Hathaway\u003c/a>/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A museum docent told me the starter is so special and irreplaceable that the Boudin mothership sends its retail stores fresh starter every 23 days. Without it, they say the sourdough those stores produce would stop tasting like San Francisco sourdough and start tasting like San Diego or Sacramento sourdough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why? Well, according to the museum, Boudin bread owes its special flavor to a strain of bacteria that thrives only in San Francisco’s climate. Scientists \u003ca href=\"http://discovermagazine.com/2003/sep/featscienceof\">identified it here \u003c/a>in 1970, so they named it \u003cem>Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Not That Unique, Actually\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>It’s a great story. Too bad it’s not quite true.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists did identify\u003cem> Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis\u003c/em> here. But recent studies have found it in up to \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/dining/for-gastronomists-a-go-to-microbiologist.html\">90 percent of countries \u003c/a>where sourdough is produced. So from a biological standpoint, San Francisco sourdough is not all that distinctive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s something that everyone thinks is unique to San Francisco and that is not true at all,” said Ben Wolfe, a microbiologist at Tufts University in Boston. \u003ca href=\"https://sites.tufts.edu/wolfelab/\">His lab studies fermentation\u003c/a> full time … including the microbes you find in sourdough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, case closed? Not quite.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/y5xOpss4j5E'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/y5xOpss4j5E'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Science is still learning about the lactic acid bacteria (like\u003cem> L. sanfranciscensis\u003c/em>) that give sourdough its main sour flavor. Other fermented foods have lactic acids, too, like miso, yogurt and kimchi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But scientists don’t know where they come from. Or how they get into your sourdough starter when you make it in your kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11403523\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11403523\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.31.58-AM-e1492027997490-800x437.png\" alt=\"Colonies of bacteria found in the author's sourdough starter, magnified 1,000 times. \" width=\"800\" height=\"437\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.31.58-AM-e1492027997490-800x437.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.31.58-AM-e1492027997490-160x87.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.31.58-AM-e1492027997490-240x131.png 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.31.58-AM-e1492027997490-375x205.png 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.31.58-AM-e1492027997490-520x284.png 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.31.58-AM-e1492027997490.png 894w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Colonies of bacteria found in the author’s sourdough starter, magnified 1,000 times. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Wolfe Lab at Tufts University)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One explanation is that the bacteria could be in the flour to begin with. So when you go to the store and buy a bag of flour, it’s not sterile. They could also be on your skin or floating around your kitchen, but Wolfe says those are less likely to become the dominant bacteria in your starter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is one of the big questions we’re trying to answer in our story of American sourdough: Where are the lactic acid bacteria coming from?” said Wolfe.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Sourdough Project\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There’s never been a large-scale study in home kitchens to really identify the sources of bacteria at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wolfe’s lab has partnered with the Rob Dunn Lab at North Carolina State University on \u003ca href=\"http://robdunnlab.com/projects/sourdough/\">the Sourdough Project\u003c/a>, the first comprehensive effort to test the DNA of sourdough starters across America — and understand the evolutionary biology that underlies the differences among starters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11403524\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 548px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11403524\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.32.25-AM-e1492028037372.png\" alt=\"A colony of yeast from the author's sourdough starter under the microscope. \" width=\"548\" height=\"301\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.32.25-AM-e1492028037372.png 548w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.32.25-AM-e1492028037372-160x88.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.32.25-AM-e1492028037372-240x132.png 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.32.25-AM-e1492028037372-375x206.png 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-11-at-11.32.25-AM-e1492028037372-520x286.png 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 548px) 100vw, 548px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A colony of yeast from the author’s sourdough starter under the microscope. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Wolfe Lab at Tufts University)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Sourdough Project is soliciting hundreds of sourdough starter samples from amateur and professional bread bakers across the country. (To participate in this public science project, get started by filling out \u003ca href=\"https://designscience.wufoo.com/forms/p1pgrbjq05dzces/\">this questionnaire\u003c/a>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists will analyze samples to answer the baseline question: How variable are the microbes from region to region? And how much variability can be attributed to the grain of the bread, versus the air, the water or the humans involved?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are so many factors. Wolfe ticks them off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It could be the time that people ferment their breads. It could be the temperature. It could be a special set of recipes used in San Francisco than in other places.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I told him I was growing my own sourdough starter, he offered to analyze it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So while science may yet discover something special is lurking in our sourdough, Wolfe isn’t holding his breath.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not even the bakers at Semifreddi’s, a company that has been in a position to benefit from the reputation of local sourdough, embrace the cachet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Semifreddi’s head baker Tredgold says it’s pure marketing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It sells the city. It’s one of the things the city’s known for. The bridge, the bay, the sourdough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Rose, the co-owner of the bakery, added: “If we take our local starter and bake with it in Los Angeles, I think it will taste very similar to what we’re making here,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blasphemy! But possibly … true.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>My Kitchen Sourdough Experiment: Results\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>My own sourdough experiment lasted more than a month. I used King Arthur whole wheat flour and kept my mixture on the kitchen counter. As it grew, it smelled distressingly like vomit before it mellowed. At one point it almost spilled out of the Tupperware I’d been keeping it in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As my starter matured, it needed to be fed twice a day on a regular schedule. I raced home from work to give it more flour and water, spoke to it, and pampered it with field trips out to the balcony to give it some exposure to the Oakland atmosphere. (In spite of what I learned about the uncertainty of the science of microbes in sourdough, I still pictured my starter capturing beneficial wild yeast and bacteria from the atmosphere.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t have pets or children, so I took photos of my starter’s regular maturity and forced my friends to admire them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11403508\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11403508\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-1020x765.jpg\" alt=\"The author's sourdough bread was a bit dense, but tasters said the flavor was spot on.\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24904_IMG_7422-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The author’s sourdough bread was a bit dense, but tasters said the flavor was spot on. \u003ccite>(Julia Scott/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the most important question was: How did it taste? I baked two little loaves and brought them into the KQED newsroom to get some brutally honest feedback from fellow reporters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Being a first-time baker, you can imagine how this went. The loaves were so dense they had almost no air pockets. They weighed at least 3 pounds and were nearly rock-hard. My colleagues at KQED charitably praised the taste, but it was clear something had gone wrong in the baking process … or with the starter itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11431549\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11431549\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-1020x765.jpeg\" alt=\"Julia Scott, left, and Bay Curious podcast host Olivia Allen-Price enjoy the fruits of Scott's labor -- some homemade sourdough bread.\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-1920x1440.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-1180x885.jpeg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-960x720.jpeg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-240x180.jpeg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-375x281.jpeg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453-520x390.jpeg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/04/IMG_4453.jpeg 2016w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Julia Scott, left, and Bay Curious podcast host Olivia Allen-Price enjoy the fruits of Scott’s labor — some homemade sourdough bread. \u003ccite>(Vinnee Tong/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A few weeks later, I got my sourdough DNA results back from Ben Wolfe’s Tufts lab. My starter had two bacterial species: \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactobacillus_brevis\">\u003cem> Lactobacillus brevis \u003c/em>\u003c/a>and \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactobacillus_plantarum\"> Lactobacillus plantarum\u003c/a>;\u003c/em> and one yeast species: \u003ca href=\"http://genome.jgi.doe.gov/Wican1/Wican1.home.html\">\u003cem>Wickerhamomyces anomalus\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. All of which are very commonly found in sourdough starters made around the world, according to Wolfe. It’s also common to have no more than a few species of yeast and bacteria in any given starter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that one bacterium once believed to make our bread so special — \u003cem>Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis\u003c/em>? My bread didn’t have any. Would things have gone differently if it had shown up? I may never know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>KQED listener Chris Thompson is an avid A’s fan who recently found himself at a Giants game with work colleagues. He noticed fans a few rows away trying to get the wave started, but saw they were quickly booed by other Giants fans. Eventually ushers came over and told the group trying to start the wave to simmer down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thompson wrote to Bay Curious asking:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why don’t they allow people to do the wave at Giants stadium?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First thing we have to get cleared up right away — there is no \u003cem>official\u003c/em> policy against the wave at Giants games. It’s a self-imposed ban that has been a part of Giants fan culture for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But why? I mean, it’s\u003cem> the wave. \u003c/em>At many stadiums, it’s as much a part of baseball as hot dogs and beer.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Oakland Athletics Started It\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10608965\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10608965 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Krazy George Henderson tells KQED listener Christopher about the very first wave. (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george-1440x810.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george-1400x787.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george-960x540.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Krazy George Henderson tells KQED listener Chris Thompson about the very first wave. (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some Giants fans point back to the origins of the wave on Oct. 15, 1981, as the reason they developed a no-wave tradition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Athletics were battling the Yankees for the American League Championship, and things were not going well for Oakland. The A’s were down by two games in a best-of-five series, and were scoreless five innings into the game.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s when a professional cheerleader called \u003ca href=\"http://www.krazygeorge.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Krazy George\u003c/a> decided to unveil a cheer he’d been developing at local high school pep rallies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watch our video of Krazy George Henderson reliving the very first wave:\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://player.vimeo.com/video/134024146?title=0&byline=0\" width=\"700\" height=\"393\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_(audience)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">some dispute\u003c/a> about whether or not Krazy George’s ’81 Oakland wave was in fact the first wave in history. Other claims point to the University of Washington or international soccer matches. But if you ask Krazy George, all of those other claims were either later than October 1981, or lack the proper supporting evidence of his nationally televised wave at the Oakland Coliseum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I say, ‘I don’t \u003cem>claim\u003c/em> to have invented the wave. I DID INVENT THE WAVE.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether that’s definitive or not, the wave’s early connection to Oakland and the A’s is enough to turn some San Francisco Giants fans against it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bennett Dake came to a recent Giants game wearing a T-shirt he got in the ’80s. The back says: “Top 10 Reasons Real Fans Go to the ’Stick.” One reason? No wave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s Oakland,” he says. “We’re San Francisco. It’s always been like that. We don’t do the wave here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10608966\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10608966 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Bennett Dake shows of his "Late Night at the 'Stick" shirt from the '80s. Number 9 reads: "No Wave." (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt-1440x810.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt-1400x788.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt-960x540.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bennett Dake shows off his ‘Late Night at the ‘Stick’ shirt from the ’80s. Number 9 reads: ‘No Wave.’ (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>The Wave Was Associated With Los Angeles (and Thus, the Dodgers)\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Though the wave might have started in Oakland, it was broadcast internationally for the first time during the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Television sets across the world showed images of the crowd doing the wave at the soccer final — in many minds forever linking the cheer with that city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the wave is seen as something really Los Angeles, and it was San Francisco reacting to that,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.danfost.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dan Fost\u003c/a>, author of \u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Dan-Fost/e/B0030CEFRE/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">two books about the Giants.\u003c/a> “[The Dodgers fan] experience is all about beating the traffic, getting to the game late, leaving early and throwing beach balls around in the stands. And the wave is just such an L.A. part of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>It’s Too Mainstream\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>One identity trait that came up repeatedly during interviews with Giants fans was their feeling of uniqueness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Giants fans sort of think that they’re a little different, so we would never stoop to something as pedestrian as doing the wave,” says Pat Gallagher, who worked as the team’s director of marketing for nearly 33 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And let’s be honest, this identity goes beyond the baseball diamond. The San Francisco Bay Area as a whole has a long history of reveling in the ways it stands apart from the rest of America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not doing the wave is a way of saying, ‘San Francisco is different and we don’t do that here,’ ” says Fost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Need another example? Look no further than the \u003ca href=\"http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/sf/history/sf_history_timeline_article.jsp?article=31\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Crazy Crab\u003c/a>. At a time when baseball teams around the country were eagerly bringing cheery mascots into the mix, the Giants introduced an anti-mascot. The crustacean was a walking mascot parody, and fans were encouraged to boo, hiss and sometimes throw things at the poor schmuck stuck inside the costume.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Real Serious Fans Are Real Serious\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Beyond tradition and perception, what is it about the wave that Giants fans dislike so much?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To put it simply, some people think that “real baseball fans” don’t do it. It’s seen as yet another frivolous ballpark novelty that detracts from their beloved pastime. Right up there with the Kiss Cam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One Giants fan we spoke with says, “It’s an obnoxious response to fan excitement. I don’t like it. I think it’s silly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Real fans chart every pitch and obsess over fundamentals. Everyone else does the wave and eats cotton candy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Giants fans don’t do the wave because they are serious about baseball,” Fost says. “They love the game, they’re paying attention to the game, and they don’t want to take themselves out of the game.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>How the Tradition is Passed On\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The Giants anti-wave philosophy is carried on as a sort of oral tradition. That is, via hearty “BOOOOOs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallagher says that when the team played at Candlestick, you’d often hear hardcore fans boo when anyone tried to start the wave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They weren’t booing the players, they were actually booing other fans,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It appears this tradition has made the trip from the ’Stick to AT&T Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Giants fan Dalton Hurst had a rude awakening at one of his childhood games.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I was a kid, I tried to start [the wave] and someone yelled at me,” says Hurst. “I don’t know why they don’t do it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>But New Fans Doing The Wave?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Despite the booing, long-standing tradition and ’80s T-shirts — sacrilege — the wave has been spotted circling AT&T park recently. It may be that the team’s success is attracting new fans who just don’t know the rules yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several die-hard fans blamed these bandwagon fans, (or “hipsters,” as one Giants fan called them) for bringing this abhorred tradition into their no-wave stadium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10608969\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 337px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/Screen-Shot-2015-07-20-at-6.51.10-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10608969\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/Screen-Shot-2015-07-20-at-6.51.10-PM.png\" alt=\"YouTube Comments on a video titled, "The Wae at AT&T Park (Giants vs. A's).\" width=\"337\" height=\"227\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">YouTube Comments on a video titled, “The Wave at AT&T Park (Giants vs. A’s).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On one \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17NxEykL2c8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube video of an AT&T Park wave\u003c/a>, the comments section spells out this argument.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Sharing our Findings\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>We took our findings back to Chris Thompson, the question-asker for this Bay Curious story. He couldn’t help but laugh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Are they proud to be that bourgeois?” he says of Giants fans. “This is baseball. … It’s waves and hot dogs and beers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To wave or not to wave? Sound off in the comments below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Got a question you want to see the Bay Curious team take on? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Submit it!\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>KQED listener Chris Thompson is an avid A’s fan who recently found himself at a Giants game with work colleagues. He noticed fans a few rows away trying to get the wave started, but saw they were quickly booed by other Giants fans. Eventually ushers came over and told the group trying to start the wave to simmer down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thompson wrote to Bay Curious asking:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why don’t they allow people to do the wave at Giants stadium?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First thing we have to get cleared up right away — there is no \u003cem>official\u003c/em> policy against the wave at Giants games. It’s a self-imposed ban that has been a part of Giants fan culture for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But why? I mean, it’s\u003cem> the wave. \u003c/em>At many stadiums, it’s as much a part of baseball as hot dogs and beer.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Oakland Athletics Started It\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10608965\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10608965 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Krazy George Henderson tells KQED listener Christopher about the very first wave. (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george-1440x810.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george-1400x787.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/chris-and-george-960x540.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Krazy George Henderson tells KQED listener Chris Thompson about the very first wave. (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some Giants fans point back to the origins of the wave on Oct. 15, 1981, as the reason they developed a no-wave tradition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Athletics were battling the Yankees for the American League Championship, and things were not going well for Oakland. The A’s were down by two games in a best-of-five series, and were scoreless five innings into the game.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s when a professional cheerleader called \u003ca href=\"http://www.krazygeorge.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Krazy George\u003c/a> decided to unveil a cheer he’d been developing at local high school pep rallies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watch our video of Krazy George Henderson reliving the very first wave:\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://player.vimeo.com/video/134024146?title=0&byline=0\" width=\"700\" height=\"393\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_(audience)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">some dispute\u003c/a> about whether or not Krazy George’s ’81 Oakland wave was in fact the first wave in history. Other claims point to the University of Washington or international soccer matches. But if you ask Krazy George, all of those other claims were either later than October 1981, or lack the proper supporting evidence of his nationally televised wave at the Oakland Coliseum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I say, ‘I don’t \u003cem>claim\u003c/em> to have invented the wave. I DID INVENT THE WAVE.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether that’s definitive or not, the wave’s early connection to Oakland and the A’s is enough to turn some San Francisco Giants fans against it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bennett Dake came to a recent Giants game wearing a T-shirt he got in the ’80s. The back says: “Top 10 Reasons Real Fans Go to the ’Stick.” One reason? No wave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s Oakland,” he says. “We’re San Francisco. It’s always been like that. We don’t do the wave here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10608966\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10608966 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Bennett Dake shows of his "Late Night at the 'Stick" shirt from the '80s. Number 9 reads: "No Wave." (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt-1440x810.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt-1400x788.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/t-shirt-960x540.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bennett Dake shows off his ‘Late Night at the ‘Stick’ shirt from the ’80s. Number 9 reads: ‘No Wave.’ (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>The Wave Was Associated With Los Angeles (and Thus, the Dodgers)\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Though the wave might have started in Oakland, it was broadcast internationally for the first time during the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Television sets across the world showed images of the crowd doing the wave at the soccer final — in many minds forever linking the cheer with that city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the wave is seen as something really Los Angeles, and it was San Francisco reacting to that,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.danfost.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dan Fost\u003c/a>, author of \u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Dan-Fost/e/B0030CEFRE/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">two books about the Giants.\u003c/a> “[The Dodgers fan] experience is all about beating the traffic, getting to the game late, leaving early and throwing beach balls around in the stands. And the wave is just such an L.A. part of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>It’s Too Mainstream\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>One identity trait that came up repeatedly during interviews with Giants fans was their feeling of uniqueness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Giants fans sort of think that they’re a little different, so we would never stoop to something as pedestrian as doing the wave,” says Pat Gallagher, who worked as the team’s director of marketing for nearly 33 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And let’s be honest, this identity goes beyond the baseball diamond. The San Francisco Bay Area as a whole has a long history of reveling in the ways it stands apart from the rest of America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not doing the wave is a way of saying, ‘San Francisco is different and we don’t do that here,’ ” says Fost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Need another example? Look no further than the \u003ca href=\"http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/sf/history/sf_history_timeline_article.jsp?article=31\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Crazy Crab\u003c/a>. At a time when baseball teams around the country were eagerly bringing cheery mascots into the mix, the Giants introduced an anti-mascot. The crustacean was a walking mascot parody, and fans were encouraged to boo, hiss and sometimes throw things at the poor schmuck stuck inside the costume.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Real Serious Fans Are Real Serious\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Beyond tradition and perception, what is it about the wave that Giants fans dislike so much?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To put it simply, some people think that “real baseball fans” don’t do it. It’s seen as yet another frivolous ballpark novelty that detracts from their beloved pastime. Right up there with the Kiss Cam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One Giants fan we spoke with says, “It’s an obnoxious response to fan excitement. I don’t like it. I think it’s silly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Real fans chart every pitch and obsess over fundamentals. Everyone else does the wave and eats cotton candy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Giants fans don’t do the wave because they are serious about baseball,” Fost says. “They love the game, they’re paying attention to the game, and they don’t want to take themselves out of the game.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>How the Tradition is Passed On\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The Giants anti-wave philosophy is carried on as a sort of oral tradition. That is, via hearty “BOOOOOs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallagher says that when the team played at Candlestick, you’d often hear hardcore fans boo when anyone tried to start the wave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They weren’t booing the players, they were actually booing other fans,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It appears this tradition has made the trip from the ’Stick to AT&T Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Giants fan Dalton Hurst had a rude awakening at one of his childhood games.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I was a kid, I tried to start [the wave] and someone yelled at me,” says Hurst. “I don’t know why they don’t do it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>But New Fans Doing The Wave?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Despite the booing, long-standing tradition and ’80s T-shirts — sacrilege — the wave has been spotted circling AT&T park recently. It may be that the team’s success is attracting new fans who just don’t know the rules yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several die-hard fans blamed these bandwagon fans, (or “hipsters,” as one Giants fan called them) for bringing this abhorred tradition into their no-wave stadium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10608969\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 337px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/Screen-Shot-2015-07-20-at-6.51.10-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10608969\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/Screen-Shot-2015-07-20-at-6.51.10-PM.png\" alt=\"YouTube Comments on a video titled, "The Wae at AT&T Park (Giants vs. A's).\" width=\"337\" height=\"227\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">YouTube Comments on a video titled, “The Wave at AT&T Park (Giants vs. A’s).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On one \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17NxEykL2c8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube video of an AT&T Park wave\u003c/a>, the comments section spells out this argument.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Sharing our Findings\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>We took our findings back to Chris Thompson, the question-asker for this Bay Curious story. He couldn’t help but laugh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Are they proud to be that bourgeois?” he says of Giants fans. “This is baseball. … It’s waves and hot dogs and beers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To wave or not to wave? Sound off in the comments below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>You know when you first notice something, and then you can’t ever “unnotice” it? A year ago that happened to Zak Brazen when he noticed a pattern in several local communities. He asked \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“Why are there colorful dots above the drainage system? And who puts them there?”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dots are located above storm drains around the Bay Area, usually on curbs. They’re spray-painted layer upon colorful layer and look like a work of abstract art.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Zak, they seem like they’re painted intentionally, and reminded him of the clusters of colorful thread he once saw in the back alleys of cities in Morocco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382268\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 453px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11382268 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Colorful-Thread-Dot.jpg\" alt=\"These colorful bundles of thread can be found on the walls of back alleys in Morocco in cities like Marrakesh and Fez.\" width=\"453\" height=\"575\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Colorful-Thread-Dot.jpg 453w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Colorful-Thread-Dot-160x203.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Colorful-Thread-Dot-240x305.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Colorful-Thread-Dot-375x476.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 453px) 100vw, 453px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">These colorful bundles of thread can be found on the walls of back alleys in Morocco in cities like Marrakech and Fez. \u003ccite>(Zak Brazen)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So what’s the deal with the dots?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Public Health War\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The dots are part of a war against one of man’s greatest enemies, an enemy that kills several million people each year — the mosquito.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mosquitoes are naturally present in our environment here in California,” says Dr. Cora Hoover, director of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention for the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Some are capable of carrying the potentially deadly West Nile virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West Nile first arrived in California in 2003, and spread quickly across the state. In 2007 it killed 21 people, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in certain counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco began working with Pestec, a pest control company, to treat more than 23,000 storm drains in the city for mosquitoes. Its eight-member San Francisco Mosquito Abatement Courier Team (SF MAC Team) completes most treatment by hand, getting around on bike or foot.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>What happens when you get West Nile?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>While most people who contract West Nile show no visible symptoms, one in five experience a flulike illness. About 1 percent become really sick, developing symptoms of meningitis or encephalitis. These infections affect the brain and spinal cord, and can lead to death.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>What are cities doing to prevent West Nile?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Local governments treat standing water or use foggers in areas with a high density of adults. In San Francisco, the city hunts down potential breeding grounds, while contractor Pestec treats the city’s storm drains.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>So far, San Francisco’s approach seems to work. Only a handful of birds and humans have contracted the virus since it started treating for West Nile in 2005. According to Hoover, no one has died.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>But Why The Dots?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>One Thursday, I joined Jake Munoz of the SF MAC Team on his morning route. As the first long rays of golden sunlight illuminated the pollinated spring air, Munoz led us up and down the hills near City College, pedaling past pastel homes and garbagemen on their routes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382272\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11382272 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Munoz-1-e1490828574396.jpg\" alt=\"Jake Munoz has worked in the Mosquito Abatement Courier (MAC) program in San Francisco for six seasons, distributing larvicide tablets in city storm drains and marking each finished drain with spray paint. He covered a route near City College of San Francisco on the morning of March 23, 2017.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jake Munoz has worked in the Mosquito Abatement Courier (MAC) program in San Francisco for six seasons, distributing larvicide tablets in city storm drains and marking each finished drain with spray paint. \u003ccite>(Bert Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Munoz stops his bike at every single storm drain. Using tongs, he picks up a little white plaster brick that’s laced with methoprene, and drops it through the grate. A moment later, we hear a small splash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rather than killing adults, methoprene works like an insect hormone, preventing normal growth. It halts egg-laying, hatching and development. The pesticide \u003ca href=\"https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/reregistration/fs_PC-105401_1-Jun-01.pdf\">was found\u003c/a> to have minimal effects on terrestrial animals, and is used around livestock, grain, corn, mushrooms and peanuts. Methoprene residue can be found in some cereals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382277\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11382277 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Jake Munoz carries a little brick of laced with methoprene used to treat storm drains for mosquitoes.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jake Munoz carries a little brick laced with methoprene used to treat storm drains for mosquitoes. \u003ccite>(Bert Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Each day, Munoz drops those little methoprene bricks into roughly 120 drains. After finishing each one, he sprays a dot on the curb above it to signify that the drain has been treated in the last 100 days. On this day, Jake uses blue spray paint. He covers the previous dot left after the last treatment less than 100 days ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dot placement varies from drain to drain. Some dots look like colorful bull’s-eyes, and some are sprayed in a messy line. Others leave artful drips down the curb.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Not Just a Sign, But Art!\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Before being a mosquito abatement courier, Munoz worked at a desk doing CAD modeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just got tired of sitting at a computer all day, so it’s good to be outside riding my bike,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spending so much time on the road does have its drawbacks. He’s been hit by cars half a dozen times, and twice badly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11393239\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11393239 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"Jake Munoz has worked in the Mosquito Abatement Courier (MAC) program in San Francisco for six seasons.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-1920x2880.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-1180x1770.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-960x1440.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-240x360.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-375x563.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-520x780.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jake Munoz has worked in the Mosquito Abatement Courier (MAC) program in San Francisco for six seasons. \u003ccite>(Bert Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I got my ankle run over one time. It looked like a seven-layer dip. It pinched the bone to the concrete. It was a nasty open wound for quite some time,” Munoz tells me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He finds himself explaining what he’s doing to a lot of suspicious people who see him wielding a spray-paint can.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some people think it’s art. It kinda looks like it! I mean, you make your next dot a little over to the side so the previous one shows. … I do think about it,” says Munoz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he’s not on the clock, Munoz is a graffiti artist. He started his art when he was 12 years old, and recently helped paint a large mural behind the Mission Cultural Center. He uses his artistic eye to help choose the dot color schemes with his supervisor, Lorae Fernandis, who is also an artist, working in textiles and fiber art. In fact, many of the team members are visual or musical artists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382273\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11382273 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Lorae Fernandis (left) briefs Kevin Lash (right) on his route for mosquito abatement in San Francisco on the morning of March 23, 2017. They and other members of the Mosquito Abatement Courier (MAC) crew distribute larvicide tablets throughout the city's storm drains by bicycle.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lorae Fernandis (left) briefs Kevin Lash (right) on his route for mosquito abatement in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Bert Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Right now, the team is starting this season with blue, but “that wasn’t our choice,” Fernandis says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are planning on using pink next, then orange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So while the dots do have a practical application — to signify that drains have been treated for potentially deadly mosquitoes — they are also the work of artists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>You can visit the SF MAC \u003ca href=\"http://mosquitosf.com/spot-your-dot/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website\u003c/a> to see what color a particular dot should be. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>You know when you first notice something, and then you can’t ever “unnotice” it? A year ago that happened to Zak Brazen when he noticed a pattern in several local communities. He asked \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“Why are there colorful dots above the drainage system? And who puts them there?”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dots are located above storm drains around the Bay Area, usually on curbs. They’re spray-painted layer upon colorful layer and look like a work of abstract art.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Zak, they seem like they’re painted intentionally, and reminded him of the clusters of colorful thread he once saw in the back alleys of cities in Morocco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382268\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 453px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11382268 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Colorful-Thread-Dot.jpg\" alt=\"These colorful bundles of thread can be found on the walls of back alleys in Morocco in cities like Marrakesh and Fez.\" width=\"453\" height=\"575\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Colorful-Thread-Dot.jpg 453w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Colorful-Thread-Dot-160x203.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Colorful-Thread-Dot-240x305.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Colorful-Thread-Dot-375x476.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 453px) 100vw, 453px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">These colorful bundles of thread can be found on the walls of back alleys in Morocco in cities like Marrakech and Fez. \u003ccite>(Zak Brazen)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So what’s the deal with the dots?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Public Health War\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The dots are part of a war against one of man’s greatest enemies, an enemy that kills several million people each year — the mosquito.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mosquitoes are naturally present in our environment here in California,” says Dr. Cora Hoover, director of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention for the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Some are capable of carrying the potentially deadly West Nile virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West Nile first arrived in California in 2003, and spread quickly across the state. In 2007 it killed 21 people, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in certain counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco began working with Pestec, a pest control company, to treat more than 23,000 storm drains in the city for mosquitoes. Its eight-member San Francisco Mosquito Abatement Courier Team (SF MAC Team) completes most treatment by hand, getting around on bike or foot.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>What happens when you get West Nile?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>While most people who contract West Nile show no visible symptoms, one in five experience a flulike illness. About 1 percent become really sick, developing symptoms of meningitis or encephalitis. These infections affect the brain and spinal cord, and can lead to death.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>What are cities doing to prevent West Nile?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Local governments treat standing water or use foggers in areas with a high density of adults. In San Francisco, the city hunts down potential breeding grounds, while contractor Pestec treats the city’s storm drains.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>So far, San Francisco’s approach seems to work. Only a handful of birds and humans have contracted the virus since it started treating for West Nile in 2005. According to Hoover, no one has died.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>But Why The Dots?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>One Thursday, I joined Jake Munoz of the SF MAC Team on his morning route. As the first long rays of golden sunlight illuminated the pollinated spring air, Munoz led us up and down the hills near City College, pedaling past pastel homes and garbagemen on their routes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382272\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11382272 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Munoz-1-e1490828574396.jpg\" alt=\"Jake Munoz has worked in the Mosquito Abatement Courier (MAC) program in San Francisco for six seasons, distributing larvicide tablets in city storm drains and marking each finished drain with spray paint. He covered a route near City College of San Francisco on the morning of March 23, 2017.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jake Munoz has worked in the Mosquito Abatement Courier (MAC) program in San Francisco for six seasons, distributing larvicide tablets in city storm drains and marking each finished drain with spray paint. \u003ccite>(Bert Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Munoz stops his bike at every single storm drain. Using tongs, he picks up a little white plaster brick that’s laced with methoprene, and drops it through the grate. A moment later, we hear a small splash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rather than killing adults, methoprene works like an insect hormone, preventing normal growth. It halts egg-laying, hatching and development. The pesticide \u003ca href=\"https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/reregistration/fs_PC-105401_1-Jun-01.pdf\">was found\u003c/a> to have minimal effects on terrestrial animals, and is used around livestock, grain, corn, mushrooms and peanuts. Methoprene residue can be found in some cereals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382277\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11382277 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Jake Munoz carries a little brick of laced with methoprene used to treat storm drains for mosquitoes.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mosquito-block-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jake Munoz carries a little brick laced with methoprene used to treat storm drains for mosquitoes. \u003ccite>(Bert Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Each day, Munoz drops those little methoprene bricks into roughly 120 drains. After finishing each one, he sprays a dot on the curb above it to signify that the drain has been treated in the last 100 days. On this day, Jake uses blue spray paint. He covers the previous dot left after the last treatment less than 100 days ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dot placement varies from drain to drain. Some dots look like colorful bull’s-eyes, and some are sprayed in a messy line. Others leave artful drips down the curb.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Not Just a Sign, But Art!\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Before being a mosquito abatement courier, Munoz worked at a desk doing CAD modeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just got tired of sitting at a computer all day, so it’s good to be outside riding my bike,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spending so much time on the road does have its drawbacks. He’s been hit by cars half a dozen times, and twice badly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11393239\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11393239 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"Jake Munoz has worked in the Mosquito Abatement Courier (MAC) program in San Francisco for six seasons.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-1920x2880.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-1180x1770.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-960x1440.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-240x360.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-375x563.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS24755_20170323_BayCurious_MosquitoAbatement_Credit_BertJohnson-9-520x780.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jake Munoz has worked in the Mosquito Abatement Courier (MAC) program in San Francisco for six seasons. \u003ccite>(Bert Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I got my ankle run over one time. It looked like a seven-layer dip. It pinched the bone to the concrete. It was a nasty open wound for quite some time,” Munoz tells me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He finds himself explaining what he’s doing to a lot of suspicious people who see him wielding a spray-paint can.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some people think it’s art. It kinda looks like it! I mean, you make your next dot a little over to the side so the previous one shows. … I do think about it,” says Munoz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he’s not on the clock, Munoz is a graffiti artist. He started his art when he was 12 years old, and recently helped paint a large mural behind the Mission Cultural Center. He uses his artistic eye to help choose the dot color schemes with his supervisor, Lorae Fernandis, who is also an artist, working in textiles and fiber art. In fact, many of the team members are visual or musical artists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382273\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11382273 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Lorae Fernandis (left) briefs Kevin Lash (right) on his route for mosquito abatement in San Francisco on the morning of March 23, 2017. They and other members of the Mosquito Abatement Courier (MAC) crew distribute larvicide tablets throughout the city's storm drains by bicycle.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/Lorrae-1-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lorae Fernandis (left) briefs Kevin Lash (right) on his route for mosquito abatement in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Bert Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Right now, the team is starting this season with blue, but “that wasn’t our choice,” Fernandis says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are planning on using pink next, then orange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So while the dots do have a practical application — to signify that drains have been treated for potentially deadly mosquitoes — they are also the work of artists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>You can visit the SF MAC \u003ca href=\"http://mosquitosf.com/spot-your-dot/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website\u003c/a> to see what color a particular dot should be. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "It's a Mushroom Bonanza This Year! What's the Deal?",
"headTitle": "It’s a Mushroom Bonanza This Year! What’s the Deal? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>It’s been a very wet winter across Northern California this year, and that means a bounty of mushrooms is popping up in our yards and forests. This got listener Theresa Halula wondering …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How can we find out more about mushrooms that pop up in the area? They are everywhere!\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not long after Theresa sent in this question, reporter Lesley McClurg wrapped up a \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2017/02/27/winter-rains-leave-forests-flush-with-fungi/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">story about mushrooms\u003c/a> for KQED Science. We asked her to join us on the \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious podcast\u003c/a> to share what she learned on a recent foray — that’s forager lingo for a mushroom hunt.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Here are five things we learned about fungi …\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]1[/dropcap] The cap of the mushroom is only the tip of a much bigger organism that lives underground. Think of the cap as the apple on the apple tree. Underground, tendrils of a thin network called mycelium expand like cobwebs threading through the dirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382183\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 710px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11382183\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/sea-of-mushrooms-e1487721258933.jpg\" alt=\"Redwood Forest.\" width=\"710\" height=\"432\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/sea-of-mushrooms-e1487721258933.jpg 710w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/sea-of-mushrooms-e1487721258933-160x97.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/sea-of-mushrooms-e1487721258933-240x146.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/sea-of-mushrooms-e1487721258933-375x228.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/sea-of-mushrooms-e1487721258933-520x316.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Redwood Forest. \u003ccite>(Wendy Goodfriend/ KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]2[/dropcap] Just because there isn’t a cap, doesn’t mean there isn’t a fungal organism. Scientists aren’t certain why some mushrooms pop, and others don’t. Even though conditions have been perfect for mushrooms this year, there are still some varieties that foragers haven’t seen. But that doesn’t mean the fungi isn’t present in the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382288\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11382288\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"Death cap mushrooms have gills from which they launch spores in order to reproduce. \" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-160x90.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-800x450.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-960x540.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-240x135.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-375x211.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-520x292.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills.jpg 1570w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Death cap mushrooms have gills from which they launch spores in order to reproduce. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]3[/dropcap] The largest known fungi system in the world is in Oregon’s Malheur National Forest, where one single organism is thought to spread about 3.4 miles. Since most of the organism is underground, there isn’t too much to see — but it’s killed many evergreen trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382196\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11382196\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-1020x765.jpg\" alt=\"Armillaria mellea, also known as the Honey Mushroom.\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-520x390.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Armillaria mellea, also known as the Honey Mushroom. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/corydalina/104135803/in/photolist-acHWT-aWrUgc-QY5Mx8-QY5NfR-kr5Eyh-anomiE-pvknqF-pXZ2cF-hyLdnS-pXBfF6-b5aCgk-6X5qru-zoCbB5-Njo2bv-oYYGUb-Puyxem-Pk3jtm-puW2EL-fD6KR8-qS2UNX-pHhUdU-bUCnHv-cbZBoE-aoEYyK-ap1auw-areMTW-79vLpV-dZc5a8-Ni9nAy-BEVTue-dmZtaE-AX12zW-5vBTYX-aBAVsM-psVFkJ-dMs5X3-pNphuR-3UN28G-qKbiDn-BUvTQD-3PzCy7-aBDAmJ-5VBbi-aBDAyS-guNsVP-hCn3My-areP5W-areFrW-arc6R4-areJoA/\" target=\"_blank\">Nathan Wilson\u003c/a>/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]4[/dropcap] There is a deadly mushroom lurking in California forests called \u003cem>Amanita phalloides\u003c/em>, commonly known as the death cap. It looks a lot like the white button mushroom, so spotting them in the wild can be tricky. Until you really know your stuff, it’s a good idea to have a \u003ca href=\"http://bayareamushrooms.org/poisonings/preventing_poisonings.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">local expert\u003c/a> check your mushrooms before eating them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Get an up close view of the death caps and hear from a woman who survived eating one in this \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/user/KQEDDeepLook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Deep Look\u003c/a> video.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl9aCH2QaQY\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]5[/dropcap] The mushroom business is booming. U.S. farms are producing 25 percent more mushrooms today than a decade ago. The largest mushroom farm in North America is Monterey Mushrooms, just south of Santa Cruz. They produce 120,000 pounds of mushrooms every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382287\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11382287\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"The entire crop at Monterey Mushrooms is the button mushroom. \" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-160x90.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-800x450.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-960x540.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-240x135.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-375x211.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-520x292.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The entire crop at Monterey Mushrooms is the button mushroom. \u003ccite>(Lesley McClurg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Read Lesley’s full story: \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2017/02/27/winter-rains-leave-forests-flush-with-fungi/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Winter Rains Leave Forests Flush with Fungi\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Learn more at the \u003ca href=\"http://bayareamushrooms.org/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Area Mycological Society\u003c/a> website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s been a very wet winter across Northern California this year, and that means a bounty of mushrooms is popping up in our yards and forests. This got listener Theresa Halula wondering …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How can we find out more about mushrooms that pop up in the area? They are everywhere!\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not long after Theresa sent in this question, reporter Lesley McClurg wrapped up a \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2017/02/27/winter-rains-leave-forests-flush-with-fungi/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">story about mushrooms\u003c/a> for KQED Science. We asked her to join us on the \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious podcast\u003c/a> to share what she learned on a recent foray — that’s forager lingo for a mushroom hunt.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Here are five things we learned about fungi …\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">1\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp> The cap of the mushroom is only the tip of a much bigger organism that lives underground. Think of the cap as the apple on the apple tree. Underground, tendrils of a thin network called mycelium expand like cobwebs threading through the dirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382183\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 710px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11382183\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/sea-of-mushrooms-e1487721258933.jpg\" alt=\"Redwood Forest.\" width=\"710\" height=\"432\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/sea-of-mushrooms-e1487721258933.jpg 710w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/sea-of-mushrooms-e1487721258933-160x97.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/sea-of-mushrooms-e1487721258933-240x146.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/sea-of-mushrooms-e1487721258933-375x228.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/sea-of-mushrooms-e1487721258933-520x316.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Redwood Forest. \u003ccite>(Wendy Goodfriend/ KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">2\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp> Just because there isn’t a cap, doesn’t mean there isn’t a fungal organism. Scientists aren’t certain why some mushrooms pop, and others don’t. Even though conditions have been perfect for mushrooms this year, there are still some varieties that foragers haven’t seen. But that doesn’t mean the fungi isn’t present in the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382288\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11382288\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"Death cap mushrooms have gills from which they launch spores in order to reproduce. \" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-160x90.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-800x450.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-960x540.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-240x135.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-375x211.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills-520x292.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/gills.jpg 1570w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Death cap mushrooms have gills from which they launch spores in order to reproduce. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">3\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp> The largest known fungi system in the world is in Oregon’s Malheur National Forest, where one single organism is thought to spread about 3.4 miles. Since most of the organism is underground, there isn’t too much to see — but it’s killed many evergreen trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382196\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11382196\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-1020x765.jpg\" alt=\"Armillaria mellea, also known as the Honey Mushroom.\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o-520x390.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/104135803_f79076d1fb_o.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Armillaria mellea, also known as the Honey Mushroom. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/corydalina/104135803/in/photolist-acHWT-aWrUgc-QY5Mx8-QY5NfR-kr5Eyh-anomiE-pvknqF-pXZ2cF-hyLdnS-pXBfF6-b5aCgk-6X5qru-zoCbB5-Njo2bv-oYYGUb-Puyxem-Pk3jtm-puW2EL-fD6KR8-qS2UNX-pHhUdU-bUCnHv-cbZBoE-aoEYyK-ap1auw-areMTW-79vLpV-dZc5a8-Ni9nAy-BEVTue-dmZtaE-AX12zW-5vBTYX-aBAVsM-psVFkJ-dMs5X3-pNphuR-3UN28G-qKbiDn-BUvTQD-3PzCy7-aBDAmJ-5VBbi-aBDAyS-guNsVP-hCn3My-areP5W-areFrW-arc6R4-areJoA/\" target=\"_blank\">Nathan Wilson\u003c/a>/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">4\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp> There is a deadly mushroom lurking in California forests called \u003cem>Amanita phalloides\u003c/em>, commonly known as the death cap. It looks a lot like the white button mushroom, so spotting them in the wild can be tricky. Until you really know your stuff, it’s a good idea to have a \u003ca href=\"http://bayareamushrooms.org/poisonings/preventing_poisonings.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">local expert\u003c/a> check your mushrooms before eating them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Get an up close view of the death caps and hear from a woman who survived eating one in this \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/user/KQEDDeepLook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Deep Look\u003c/a> video.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/bl9aCH2QaQY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/bl9aCH2QaQY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">5\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp> The mushroom business is booming. U.S. farms are producing 25 percent more mushrooms today than a decade ago. The largest mushroom farm in North America is Monterey Mushrooms, just south of Santa Cruz. They produce 120,000 pounds of mushrooms every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11382287\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11382287\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"The entire crop at Monterey Mushrooms is the button mushroom. \" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-160x90.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-800x450.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-960x540.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-240x135.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-375x211.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/mushroomroom-520x292.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The entire crop at Monterey Mushrooms is the button mushroom. \u003ccite>(Lesley McClurg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Read Lesley’s full story: \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2017/02/27/winter-rains-leave-forests-flush-with-fungi/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Winter Rains Leave Forests Flush with Fungi\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Learn more at the \u003ca href=\"http://bayareamushrooms.org/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Area Mycological Society\u003c/a> website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "What Would It Take to Make Lake Merritt Swimmable?",
"headTitle": "What Would It Take to Make Lake Merritt Swimmable? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ci>This week’s \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious podcast\u003c/a> tackles a question from the 7-year-old daughter of KQED’s Judy Campbell. Her name is Violet. She visits Lake Merritt a lot and she wants to know: \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What would it take to make Lake Merritt swimmable? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Lake Merritt is known as the Crown Jewel of Oakland, but it used to be called by a different name: the Lake of 1,000 Smells. To figure how to make it a swimming lake, it’d be good to know how it became un-swimmable in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Before Lake Merritt Was A Lake\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Once upon a time, tides from the bay flowed freely in and out of Lake Merritt. In fact, Lake Merritt wasn’t a lake at all, but a tidal marsh, a slough. Water from the surrounding creeks flowed into the slough. During high tide, salt water filled the area. At low tide, when the water rushed back to the ocean, it left behind shimmering mudflats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1852, the city of Oakland was founded and its new residents took advantage of the tidal flow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Back then, putting sewage in Lake Merritt was somewhat reasonable … it flushed twice a day!” says Chris Read, museum docent and researcher of \u003ca href=\"http://www.cshouse.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Camron-Stanford House\u003c/a> exhibition, “Slough, Cesspool, City Jewel: the Evolution of Lake Merritt.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Originally, the population was very small. In 1850, there were about 70 permanent residents. By 1860, there were about 1,500 residents,” says Read. “As the population grew, they continued to throw sewage into the slough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10900608\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10900608\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/1857_U.S._Coast_Survey_Map_of_San_Antonio_Creek_and_Oakland_California_near_San_Francisco_-_Geographicus_-_SanAntonioCreek-uscs-1857-800x576.jpg\" alt=\"A map from 1957, back when Lake Merritt was known as the San Antonio Creek.\" width=\"800\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/1857_U.S._Coast_Survey_Map_of_San_Antonio_Creek_and_Oakland_California_near_San_Francisco_-_Geographicus_-_SanAntonioCreek-uscs-1857-800x576.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/1857_U.S._Coast_Survey_Map_of_San_Antonio_Creek_and_Oakland_California_near_San_Francisco_-_Geographicus_-_SanAntonioCreek-uscs-1857-400x288.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/1857_U.S._Coast_Survey_Map_of_San_Antonio_Creek_and_Oakland_California_near_San_Francisco_-_Geographicus_-_SanAntonioCreek-uscs-1857-1920x1382.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/1857_U.S._Coast_Survey_Map_of_San_Antonio_Creek_and_Oakland_California_near_San_Francisco_-_Geographicus_-_SanAntonioCreek-uscs-1857-1180x849.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/1857_U.S._Coast_Survey_Map_of_San_Antonio_Creek_and_Oakland_California_near_San_Francisco_-_Geographicus_-_SanAntonioCreek-uscs-1857-960x691.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A map from 1957, back when Lake Merritt was known as the San Antonio Creek.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Around this time, Dr. Samuel Merritt, the 13th mayor of Oakland, began building homes near the marsh. “He thought the real estate would be better if the slough was instead a lake,” says Linda Nack, a Camron-Stanford House docent. A weir — a kind of barrier across a river — was built in 1869 to control tidal flow and create Merritt’s Lake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That led to problems. If you reduce the flow of water, oxygen is reduced and the water gets more polluted,” says Read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next year Lake Merritt was declared the first wildlife refuge in the country, although motivations were not purely conservational.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dr. Merritt had a big home along the lake and he had his window shot out by a hunter,” says Nack. “His neighbor’s cow was also killed by the hunters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3PkzIB7efk\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gradually, the duck poo began to build up and the water quality worsened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The lake did smell, but people tolerated it,” Nack says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1897, swimming at Lake Merritt became illegal. Despite the ban, newspaper clippings from the time show a few sanctioned swim events even after it was outlawed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10900609\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10900609\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/ladies-rocks-800x489.jpg\" alt=\"Ladies throwing rocks along the Lake Merritt waterfront.\" width=\"800\" height=\"489\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/ladies-rocks-800x489.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/ladies-rocks-400x245.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/ladies-rocks-1920x1175.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/ladies-rocks-1180x722.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/ladies-rocks-960x587.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ladies throwing rocks along the Lake Merritt waterfront. (Prelinger Archives)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Over the years, there have been various projects to improve the lake’s water quality. Human waste was diverted into sewer treatment systems and the lake was dredged a few times. However, smelly algae blooms, and trash and pollution issues plagued the lake throughout the 20th century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the 1960s, Lake Merritt had picked up its nickname: the Lake of a 1,000 Smells.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Lake Merritt of Today\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Lake Merritt is now a far cry from the poop swamp of yesteryear. Funds from Measure DD, passed in 2002, have been used to clean up the waterfront and restore the creek. This has increased the flow of water between Lake Merritt and the San Francisco Bay. Still, there’s a lot left to be done. The EPA has listed Lake Merritt as an impaired water body, citing low dissolved oxygen levels and trash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10900610\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10900610\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-4.04.15-PM-800x450.png\" alt=\"Jessica Placzek talks to volunteers from the Lake Merritt Institute.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-4.04.15-PM-800x450.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-4.04.15-PM-400x225.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-4.04.15-PM-1920x1080.png 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-4.04.15-PM-1180x664.png 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-4.04.15-PM-960x540.png 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jessica Placzek talks to volunteers from the Lake Merritt Institute. \u003ccite>(Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have 62-plus storm drains that drain into Lake Merritt, and the urban runoff from 7 square miles. It’s a lot,” says James Robinson, co-director of \u003ca href=\"http://www.lakemerrittinstitute.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Lake Merritt Institute\u003c/a>, who helps organize volunteers to pick up trash around the lake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In drier summer months, volunteers can pull 560 pounds of trash from the lake. But during wetter months crews pull out much, much more. In December 2015, 3,220 pounds of trash were pulled from the lake, says Robinson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lake Merritt Institute volunteers find all kinds of debris in the lake. The oddest items? A probation anklet, a bowling ball, a gerbil in a casket and a bag full of jewelry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More commonly, volunteers pick up plastic bags, food, cigarette butts, children’s toys, used condoms, bottles and furniture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10900612\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10900612\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.54.14-PM-800x450.png\" alt=\"A needle collected by volunteers at Lake Merritt.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.54.14-PM-800x450.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.54.14-PM-400x225.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.54.14-PM-1920x1080.png 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.54.14-PM-1180x664.png 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.54.14-PM-960x540.png 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A needle collected by volunteers at Lake Merritt. \u003ccite>(Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oakland officials are currently working toward the goal of no visible trash in the lake by 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s more than just the visible trash that is harming the lake. Some of the worst pollutants are cleaning chemicals, pesticides, leaked gas and pet feces. Birds also poop directly into the lake and volunteers have even caught people using the lake as a toilet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the problem, though, is that even when people aren’t using the lake as a bathroom, their toilets can still cause sewage to end up in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”IFqngkyQqJWkmCCLWxaforsAvecAhKf1″]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our sewer lines go to a treatment plant, but our pipes are old. And, as systems get overloaded and overwhelmed, they can have leaks or spills underground. And that could end up in Lake Merritt,” says Kristine Shaff, from the Oakland Public Works Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fecal matter is the biggest public health concern stopping swimmers in Lake Merritt. Human feces spread disease, and in order for the lake to be designated for swimming, there can’t be more than a minuscule amount of fecal matter in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the lake is not currently open for swimmers, water quality tests are not regularly required, but are taken during special circumstances. One bacteria test, ordered after a sewage break, found that disease-causing pathogens were 20 times what is considered acceptable for swimming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if testing were done more regularly, testing for feces is difficult. The lake is big and the water moves. A water sample collected next to Fairyland could be safe one minute, but five minutes later it could be bacteria-ridden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While \u003cem>most\u003c/em> of the water in the lake likely would not make you sick, there is a risk. And so far that’s a risk that the city, and most people, are not willing to take.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10900611\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10900611\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.56.55-PM-800x450.png\" alt=\"A view of Oakland from Lake Merritt.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.56.55-PM-800x450.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.56.55-PM-400x225.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.56.55-PM-1920x1080.png 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.56.55-PM-1180x664.png 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.56.55-PM-960x540.png 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of Oakland from Lake Merritt. \u003ccite>(Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Into the Realm of the Theoretical\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Shaff, from the Oakland Public Works Department, says there are no plans to create a swimming beach at Lake Merritt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are \u003ca href=\"http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/opr/s/aquatics/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">six city swimming pools run by Oakland Parks and Recreation\u003c/a>. One of them, \u003ca href=\"http://eastoaklandsportscenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the East Oakland Sports Center\u003c/a>, is a fabulous swimming venue, so take your kids there right away,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So from here on, our Bay Curious answer becomes purely theoretical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To make it a swimming lake, we would have to close off all of the pipes that drain into the lake,” says Shaff. “Then we’d be tearing up all kinds of streets, so that’s not really feasible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second option would be to chlorinate the lake, or at least part of it. A similar project was done at \u003ca href=\"http://www.ebparks.org/parks/cull_canyon#about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cull Canyon in Castro Valley\u003c/a>, where the park built a chlorinated swim lagoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch2>Take A Gondola Ride on Lake Merritt\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Make the video below fullscreen and use your mouse to click and drag around the 360-degree scene. (\u003ca href=\"https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6178631?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">See if your browser is compatible\u003c/a>.)\u003cbr>\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QgMw3CTJ8A&feature=youtu.be\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But chlorine comes with its own environmental problems. While it kills bacteria, chlorine also kills other living things in the water. Lake Merritt is first and foremost a wildlife refuge, so chlorination wouldn’t fly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The third option — and likely the most realistic — would be to build a few acres of wetlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can pump the water through a wetland and let the wetland remove the bacteria. In fact, you could clean it down to whatever level you want,” says Dr. Alex Horne, professor emeritus of ecological engineering at UC Berkeley. Horne has helped build wetlands around the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s easy. You get wildlife; it can look good. People would want to live there, because it looks like little lakes and islands,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small pilot wetland was built a few years ago, but failed due to lack of funding. Horne says a high-quality wetland might cost up to $75,000 an acre. Money would also be needed to pump the water, maintain the wetland, get regular water-quality tests and employ lifeguards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All this being said, and despite the dangers, people do still end up swimming in the lake. Boats capsize and people fall in all the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Got a question you want the Bay Curious team to investigate? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ask!\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ci>This week’s \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious podcast\u003c/a> tackles a question from the 7-year-old daughter of KQED’s Judy Campbell. Her name is Violet. She visits Lake Merritt a lot and she wants to know: \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What would it take to make Lake Merritt swimmable? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Lake Merritt is known as the Crown Jewel of Oakland, but it used to be called by a different name: the Lake of 1,000 Smells. To figure how to make it a swimming lake, it’d be good to know how it became un-swimmable in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Before Lake Merritt Was A Lake\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Once upon a time, tides from the bay flowed freely in and out of Lake Merritt. In fact, Lake Merritt wasn’t a lake at all, but a tidal marsh, a slough. Water from the surrounding creeks flowed into the slough. During high tide, salt water filled the area. At low tide, when the water rushed back to the ocean, it left behind shimmering mudflats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1852, the city of Oakland was founded and its new residents took advantage of the tidal flow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Back then, putting sewage in Lake Merritt was somewhat reasonable … it flushed twice a day!” says Chris Read, museum docent and researcher of \u003ca href=\"http://www.cshouse.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Camron-Stanford House\u003c/a> exhibition, “Slough, Cesspool, City Jewel: the Evolution of Lake Merritt.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Originally, the population was very small. In 1850, there were about 70 permanent residents. By 1860, there were about 1,500 residents,” says Read. “As the population grew, they continued to throw sewage into the slough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10900608\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10900608\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/1857_U.S._Coast_Survey_Map_of_San_Antonio_Creek_and_Oakland_California_near_San_Francisco_-_Geographicus_-_SanAntonioCreek-uscs-1857-800x576.jpg\" alt=\"A map from 1957, back when Lake Merritt was known as the San Antonio Creek.\" width=\"800\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/1857_U.S._Coast_Survey_Map_of_San_Antonio_Creek_and_Oakland_California_near_San_Francisco_-_Geographicus_-_SanAntonioCreek-uscs-1857-800x576.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/1857_U.S._Coast_Survey_Map_of_San_Antonio_Creek_and_Oakland_California_near_San_Francisco_-_Geographicus_-_SanAntonioCreek-uscs-1857-400x288.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/1857_U.S._Coast_Survey_Map_of_San_Antonio_Creek_and_Oakland_California_near_San_Francisco_-_Geographicus_-_SanAntonioCreek-uscs-1857-1920x1382.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/1857_U.S._Coast_Survey_Map_of_San_Antonio_Creek_and_Oakland_California_near_San_Francisco_-_Geographicus_-_SanAntonioCreek-uscs-1857-1180x849.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/1857_U.S._Coast_Survey_Map_of_San_Antonio_Creek_and_Oakland_California_near_San_Francisco_-_Geographicus_-_SanAntonioCreek-uscs-1857-960x691.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A map from 1957, back when Lake Merritt was known as the San Antonio Creek.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Around this time, Dr. Samuel Merritt, the 13th mayor of Oakland, began building homes near the marsh. “He thought the real estate would be better if the slough was instead a lake,” says Linda Nack, a Camron-Stanford House docent. A weir — a kind of barrier across a river — was built in 1869 to control tidal flow and create Merritt’s Lake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That led to problems. If you reduce the flow of water, oxygen is reduced and the water gets more polluted,” says Read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next year Lake Merritt was declared the first wildlife refuge in the country, although motivations were not purely conservational.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dr. Merritt had a big home along the lake and he had his window shot out by a hunter,” says Nack. “His neighbor’s cow was also killed by the hunters.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/W3PkzIB7efk'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/W3PkzIB7efk'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Gradually, the duck poo began to build up and the water quality worsened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The lake did smell, but people tolerated it,” Nack says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1897, swimming at Lake Merritt became illegal. Despite the ban, newspaper clippings from the time show a few sanctioned swim events even after it was outlawed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10900609\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10900609\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/ladies-rocks-800x489.jpg\" alt=\"Ladies throwing rocks along the Lake Merritt waterfront.\" width=\"800\" height=\"489\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/ladies-rocks-800x489.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/ladies-rocks-400x245.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/ladies-rocks-1920x1175.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/ladies-rocks-1180x722.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/ladies-rocks-960x587.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ladies throwing rocks along the Lake Merritt waterfront. (Prelinger Archives)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Over the years, there have been various projects to improve the lake’s water quality. Human waste was diverted into sewer treatment systems and the lake was dredged a few times. However, smelly algae blooms, and trash and pollution issues plagued the lake throughout the 20th century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the 1960s, Lake Merritt had picked up its nickname: the Lake of a 1,000 Smells.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Lake Merritt of Today\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Lake Merritt is now a far cry from the poop swamp of yesteryear. Funds from Measure DD, passed in 2002, have been used to clean up the waterfront and restore the creek. This has increased the flow of water between Lake Merritt and the San Francisco Bay. Still, there’s a lot left to be done. The EPA has listed Lake Merritt as an impaired water body, citing low dissolved oxygen levels and trash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10900610\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10900610\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-4.04.15-PM-800x450.png\" alt=\"Jessica Placzek talks to volunteers from the Lake Merritt Institute.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-4.04.15-PM-800x450.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-4.04.15-PM-400x225.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-4.04.15-PM-1920x1080.png 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-4.04.15-PM-1180x664.png 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-4.04.15-PM-960x540.png 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jessica Placzek talks to volunteers from the Lake Merritt Institute. \u003ccite>(Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have 62-plus storm drains that drain into Lake Merritt, and the urban runoff from 7 square miles. It’s a lot,” says James Robinson, co-director of \u003ca href=\"http://www.lakemerrittinstitute.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Lake Merritt Institute\u003c/a>, who helps organize volunteers to pick up trash around the lake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In drier summer months, volunteers can pull 560 pounds of trash from the lake. But during wetter months crews pull out much, much more. In December 2015, 3,220 pounds of trash were pulled from the lake, says Robinson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lake Merritt Institute volunteers find all kinds of debris in the lake. The oddest items? A probation anklet, a bowling ball, a gerbil in a casket and a bag full of jewelry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More commonly, volunteers pick up plastic bags, food, cigarette butts, children’s toys, used condoms, bottles and furniture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10900612\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10900612\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.54.14-PM-800x450.png\" alt=\"A needle collected by volunteers at Lake Merritt.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.54.14-PM-800x450.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.54.14-PM-400x225.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.54.14-PM-1920x1080.png 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.54.14-PM-1180x664.png 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.54.14-PM-960x540.png 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A needle collected by volunteers at Lake Merritt. \u003ccite>(Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oakland officials are currently working toward the goal of no visible trash in the lake by 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s more than just the visible trash that is harming the lake. Some of the worst pollutants are cleaning chemicals, pesticides, leaked gas and pet feces. Birds also poop directly into the lake and volunteers have even caught people using the lake as a toilet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the problem, though, is that even when people aren’t using the lake as a bathroom, their toilets can still cause sewage to end up in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our sewer lines go to a treatment plant, but our pipes are old. And, as systems get overloaded and overwhelmed, they can have leaks or spills underground. And that could end up in Lake Merritt,” says Kristine Shaff, from the Oakland Public Works Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fecal matter is the biggest public health concern stopping swimmers in Lake Merritt. Human feces spread disease, and in order for the lake to be designated for swimming, there can’t be more than a minuscule amount of fecal matter in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the lake is not currently open for swimmers, water quality tests are not regularly required, but are taken during special circumstances. One bacteria test, ordered after a sewage break, found that disease-causing pathogens were 20 times what is considered acceptable for swimming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if testing were done more regularly, testing for feces is difficult. The lake is big and the water moves. A water sample collected next to Fairyland could be safe one minute, but five minutes later it could be bacteria-ridden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While \u003cem>most\u003c/em> of the water in the lake likely would not make you sick, there is a risk. And so far that’s a risk that the city, and most people, are not willing to take.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10900611\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10900611\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.56.55-PM-800x450.png\" alt=\"A view of Oakland from Lake Merritt.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.56.55-PM-800x450.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.56.55-PM-400x225.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.56.55-PM-1920x1080.png 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.56.55-PM-1180x664.png 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-17-at-3.56.55-PM-960x540.png 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of Oakland from Lake Merritt. \u003ccite>(Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Into the Realm of the Theoretical\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Shaff, from the Oakland Public Works Department, says there are no plans to create a swimming beach at Lake Merritt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are \u003ca href=\"http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/opr/s/aquatics/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">six city swimming pools run by Oakland Parks and Recreation\u003c/a>. One of them, \u003ca href=\"http://eastoaklandsportscenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the East Oakland Sports Center\u003c/a>, is a fabulous swimming venue, so take your kids there right away,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So from here on, our Bay Curious answer becomes purely theoretical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To make it a swimming lake, we would have to close off all of the pipes that drain into the lake,” says Shaff. “Then we’d be tearing up all kinds of streets, so that’s not really feasible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second option would be to chlorinate the lake, or at least part of it. A similar project was done at \u003ca href=\"http://www.ebparks.org/parks/cull_canyon#about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cull Canyon in Castro Valley\u003c/a>, where the park built a chlorinated swim lagoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch2>Take A Gondola Ride on Lake Merritt\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Make the video below fullscreen and use your mouse to click and drag around the 360-degree scene. (\u003ca href=\"https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6178631?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">See if your browser is compatible\u003c/a>.)\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/2QgMw3CTJ8A'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/2QgMw3CTJ8A'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But chlorine comes with its own environmental problems. While it kills bacteria, chlorine also kills other living things in the water. Lake Merritt is first and foremost a wildlife refuge, so chlorination wouldn’t fly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The third option — and likely the most realistic — would be to build a few acres of wetlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can pump the water through a wetland and let the wetland remove the bacteria. In fact, you could clean it down to whatever level you want,” says Dr. Alex Horne, professor emeritus of ecological engineering at UC Berkeley. Horne has helped build wetlands around the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s easy. You get wildlife; it can look good. People would want to live there, because it looks like little lakes and islands,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small pilot wetland was built a few years ago, but failed due to lack of funding. Horne says a high-quality wetland might cost up to $75,000 an acre. Money would also be needed to pump the water, maintain the wetland, get regular water-quality tests and employ lifeguards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All this being said, and despite the dangers, people do still end up swimming in the lake. Boats capsize and people fall in all the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Got a question you want the Bay Curious team to investigate? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ask!\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "whats-that-thing-off-280-the-flintstone-house",
"title": "What's That Thing Off 280? The Flintstone House",
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"headTitle": "What’s That Thing Off 280? The Flintstone House | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]W[/dropcap]e don’t normally profile real estate listings for \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a>, but this one was too fascinating to pass up. The “Flintstone House,” as Peninsula locals call it, is on the market for $3.2 million. Which means we have a rare opportunity to \u003ca href=\"http://www.flintstonehouse280.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cem>peek inside\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve ever driven northbound on Interstate 280 through Hillsborough, you’ve surely seen this house from the highway. There is nothing else like it in the neighborhood, which looks much like something out of “The Brady Bunch”: that is to say, sedate, one-story ranch homes circa the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Locals named this the Flintstone House because it looks like one of the domed houses you might see in the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq7noaMwLfg]And 45 Berryessa Way does look like it could be home to Fred and Wilma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I asked the listing agent for the house, Judy Meuschke, if this is the most eccentric house she’s ever been involved in listing — “Yes!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meuschke says many people are surprised when they walk inside this 2,700-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom home. They expect something cavelike: dark, musty, weird. Instead, the interior is bright and airy, a meditation in cream with orange accents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11350378\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11350378\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"The owner loves art, making the interior a showcase in more ways than one.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The owner loves art, making the interior a showcase in more ways than one. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s cozy,” Meuschke says. “It’s really livable. I love the house.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She is showing me around because the current owner has moved to a smaller place, not too far from here. The woman keeps a low profile and doesn’t want her name used for this story, but she has done a lot of work on the place over the more than two decades she lived here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The orange-and-purple paint job on the house is relatively new, as are a number of structural renovations, including a waterproof membrane, and insulation that obviates the need for air conditioning in the warmer months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The kitchen, remodeled in the 2000s, looks to me like a biotech lab designed by Gustav Klimt. It was designed and built by Emeryville architect \u003ca href=\"http://eugenetsui.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eugene Tssui\u003c/a>. His marching orders?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The owner lives a life of art. She loves to live in art. She said to me, ‘I need a stove. I need a place for a fridge. But otherwise, anything goes,’ ” Tssui says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11350436\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11350436 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt='\"What if the kitchen became a work of art in itself?\" asked architect Eugene Tssui. ' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“What if the kitchen became a work of art in itself?” asked architect Eugene Tssui. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Everything is round in the house, creating a biomorphic quality to the place. Even the walls are curved. You don’t hang a painting. You set it on the floor and lean it back. Or build an alcove to house it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because it’s a circular plan, I felt like the vocabulary of the design needed to fit that, the grammar of the geometry,” Tssui says. “Nothing like that had ever been done before. We had to experiment ahead of time and adapt it to that space: the way that space works, the way it accommodates movement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[gallery type=\"rectangular\" ids=\"11361109,11361108,11361107\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why the cables holding up the glass countertop? Earthquake safety. Tssui explains they “allow for flex, and they allow the glass countertop to float above the ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Looking back at the project after about a decade, Tssui says he’s most happy about the quality of the light in the space, and its effect on the viewer: “a kind of a shimmering, soaring feeling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11350442\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11350442 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Inside the dome, in the “conversation pit,”, there’s tons of natural light, and a great view of the Crystal Springs Reservoir out of the window – which is shaped, as many of the windows in this home are, like an amoeba. Everything accentuates the biomorphic quality of the place. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Inside the “conversation pit,” there’s tons of natural light, and a great view of Crystal Springs Reservoir out of the window — which is shaped, as many of the windows in this home are, like an amoeba. Everything accentuates the biomorphic quality of the place. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Especially in the rooms that face 280 and Crystal Springs Reservoir, there is a lot of natural light, pouring in through amoeba-shaped windows like the one above.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So who would spend $3.2 million on a party pad like this? For a number of months, there was a fair bit of interest in renting it out for $700+ a night on \u003ca href=\"https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/15148453\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Airbnb\u003c/a>. But it’s been a challenge to find the wealthy person with as big a sense of whimsy as the Flintstone House requires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the years, assessor’s records show, the house has sold five times. This time around, the Flintstone House went on the market for $4.2 million in September 2015, but there have been two price reductions since then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11350460\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11350460 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"Wherever you stand or sit in the Flintstone House, you’re looking into other rooms.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-1180x1770.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-960x1440.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-240x360.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-375x563.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-520x780.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wherever you stand or sit in the Flintstone House, you’re looking into other rooms. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meuschke acknowledges the house is not conventional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the pool of buyers is much smaller,” she says, adding she does not imagine anyone would spend this kind of money just to tear this house down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Spirit of Adventure in the 1970s\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you think about it, it’s kind of crazy that other home owners in the San Francisco Bay Area haven’t built more outlandish experiments like the Flintstone House.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I did check with Hillsborough’s planning division, and there aren’t any rules against wacky, \u003cem>per se\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That said, the owner had plans to build a second house to rent out on the property, designed by Tssui. Officials denied her proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The owner wasn’t willing to fight, but Tssui still harbors misgivings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Planning departments promote conformity and a meek approach to design,” Tssui says. “It’s an aggressive hindrance to the freedom of human thought and action, forcing citizens to conform to personal, subjective edicts, which should be fought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11350449\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11350449 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Hillsborough planners put the kibosh on plans to build a second house on the property in 2006. \" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-1920x1081.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hillsborough planners put the kibosh on plans to build a second house on the property in 2006. \u003ccite>(Photo: Courtesy of Eugene Tsui)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You know, it’s an expression of its time,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.pierluigiserraino.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pierluigi Serraino\u003c/a>, an architect in Alameda who also writes books about architectural history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I find it, in many respects, endearing,” he says of the Flintstone House. “I’ve always seen it from the freeway and I always thought it was a classic period piece, a bit of a folly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The original owners built this place in 1977. In the late 1970s, Serraino says, people were more comfortable letting their freak flag fly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There have always been certain strands in architecture that try to establish some relationship with the organic world,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some respects, the Flintstone House follows a long line of fanciful architecture, with prestigious forbears including the famous Spanish architect \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Gaud%C3%AD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Antoni Gaudi\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, the development of “shotcrete” at the turn of the last century opened a lot of doors for architecture. It’s a process in which concrete is sprayed through a hose at high velocity onto a frame of, typically, steel rebar and mesh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Shotcrete is a way to essentially create a sculptural fantasy, that then you cover with this layer of fluid stone,” says Serraino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Think about that next time you’re driving past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "What's That Thing Off 280? The Flintstone House | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">W\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>e don’t normally profile real estate listings for \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a>, but this one was too fascinating to pass up. The “Flintstone House,” as Peninsula locals call it, is on the market for $3.2 million. Which means we have a rare opportunity to \u003ca href=\"http://www.flintstonehouse280.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cem>peek inside\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve ever driven northbound on Interstate 280 through Hillsborough, you’ve surely seen this house from the highway. There is nothing else like it in the neighborhood, which looks much like something out of “The Brady Bunch”: that is to say, sedate, one-story ranch homes circa the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Locals named this the Flintstone House because it looks like one of the domed houses you might see in the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/uq7noaMwLfg'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/uq7noaMwLfg'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>And 45 Berryessa Way does look like it could be home to Fred and Wilma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I asked the listing agent for the house, Judy Meuschke, if this is the most eccentric house she’s ever been involved in listing — “Yes!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meuschke says many people are surprised when they walk inside this 2,700-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom home. They expect something cavelike: dark, musty, weird. Instead, the interior is bright and airy, a meditation in cream with orange accents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11350378\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11350378\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"The owner loves art, making the interior a showcase in more ways than one.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23949_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs01-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The owner loves art, making the interior a showcase in more ways than one. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s cozy,” Meuschke says. “It’s really livable. I love the house.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She is showing me around because the current owner has moved to a smaller place, not too far from here. The woman keeps a low profile and doesn’t want her name used for this story, but she has done a lot of work on the place over the more than two decades she lived here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The orange-and-purple paint job on the house is relatively new, as are a number of structural renovations, including a waterproof membrane, and insulation that obviates the need for air conditioning in the warmer months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The kitchen, remodeled in the 2000s, looks to me like a biotech lab designed by Gustav Klimt. It was designed and built by Emeryville architect \u003ca href=\"http://eugenetsui.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eugene Tssui\u003c/a>. His marching orders?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The owner lives a life of art. She loves to live in art. She said to me, ‘I need a stove. I need a place for a fridge. But otherwise, anything goes,’ ” Tssui says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11350436\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11350436 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt='\"What if the kitchen became a work of art in itself?\" asked architect Eugene Tssui. ' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23958_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs10-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“What if the kitchen became a work of art in itself?” asked architect Eugene Tssui. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Everything is round in the house, creating a biomorphic quality to the place. Even the walls are curved. You don’t hang a painting. You set it on the floor and lean it back. Or build an alcove to house it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because it’s a circular plan, I felt like the vocabulary of the design needed to fit that, the grammar of the geometry,” Tssui says. “Nothing like that had ever been done before. We had to experiment ahead of time and adapt it to that space: the way that space works, the way it accommodates movement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why the cables holding up the glass countertop? Earthquake safety. Tssui explains they “allow for flex, and they allow the glass countertop to float above the ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Looking back at the project after about a decade, Tssui says he’s most happy about the quality of the light in the space, and its effect on the viewer: “a kind of a shimmering, soaring feeling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11350442\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11350442 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Inside the dome, in the “conversation pit,”, there’s tons of natural light, and a great view of the Crystal Springs Reservoir out of the window – which is shaped, as many of the windows in this home are, like an amoeba. Everything accentuates the biomorphic quality of the place. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23952_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs06-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Inside the “conversation pit,” there’s tons of natural light, and a great view of Crystal Springs Reservoir out of the window — which is shaped, as many of the windows in this home are, like an amoeba. Everything accentuates the biomorphic quality of the place. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Especially in the rooms that face 280 and Crystal Springs Reservoir, there is a lot of natural light, pouring in through amoeba-shaped windows like the one above.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So who would spend $3.2 million on a party pad like this? For a number of months, there was a fair bit of interest in renting it out for $700+ a night on \u003ca href=\"https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/15148453\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Airbnb\u003c/a>. But it’s been a challenge to find the wealthy person with as big a sense of whimsy as the Flintstone House requires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the years, assessor’s records show, the house has sold five times. This time around, the Flintstone House went on the market for $4.2 million in September 2015, but there have been two price reductions since then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11350460\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11350460 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"Wherever you stand or sit in the Flintstone House, you’re looking into other rooms.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-1180x1770.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-960x1440.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-240x360.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-375x563.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS23951_170127_FlintstonesHouse_bhs14-qut-520x780.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wherever you stand or sit in the Flintstone House, you’re looking into other rooms. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meuschke acknowledges the house is not conventional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the pool of buyers is much smaller,” she says, adding she does not imagine anyone would spend this kind of money just to tear this house down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Spirit of Adventure in the 1970s\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you think about it, it’s kind of crazy that other home owners in the San Francisco Bay Area haven’t built more outlandish experiments like the Flintstone House.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I did check with Hillsborough’s planning division, and there aren’t any rules against wacky, \u003cem>per se\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That said, the owner had plans to build a second house to rent out on the property, designed by Tssui. Officials denied her proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The owner wasn’t willing to fight, but Tssui still harbors misgivings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Planning departments promote conformity and a meek approach to design,” Tssui says. “It’s an aggressive hindrance to the freedom of human thought and action, forcing citizens to conform to personal, subjective edicts, which should be fought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11350449\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11350449 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Hillsborough planners put the kibosh on plans to build a second house on the property in 2006. \" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-1920x1081.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/edises-residence-june-28-2010_FIXED-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hillsborough planners put the kibosh on plans to build a second house on the property in 2006. \u003ccite>(Photo: Courtesy of Eugene Tsui)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You know, it’s an expression of its time,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.pierluigiserraino.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pierluigi Serraino\u003c/a>, an architect in Alameda who also writes books about architectural history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I find it, in many respects, endearing,” he says of the Flintstone House. “I’ve always seen it from the freeway and I always thought it was a classic period piece, a bit of a folly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The original owners built this place in 1977. In the late 1970s, Serraino says, people were more comfortable letting their freak flag fly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There have always been certain strands in architecture that try to establish some relationship with the organic world,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some respects, the Flintstone House follows a long line of fanciful architecture, with prestigious forbears including the famous Spanish architect \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Gaud%C3%AD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Antoni Gaudi\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, the development of “shotcrete” at the turn of the last century opened a lot of doors for architecture. It’s a process in which concrete is sprayed through a hose at high velocity onto a frame of, typically, steel rebar and mesh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Shotcrete is a way to essentially create a sculptural fantasy, that then you cover with this layer of fluid stone,” says Serraino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Think about that next time you’re driving past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "How Does Rain Create More Potholes?",
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"content": "\u003cp>When you get enough rain to end a drought, there’s gonna be collateral damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re talking about our roads, where some drivers have noticed the extra potholes popping up on our highways and local streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I ran over a pothole on Van Ness,” Muni transit operator Matt Smith says. “It damaged the inner boot of my car and gave me a flat front tire. The pothole was massive. It was massive! It’s no reason why that pothole should not have been fixed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> got this question from Anne Schaefer-Salinas and her son, Declan: Why does bad weather cause potholes?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We spoke to \u003ca href=\"http://www.dot.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Caltrans \u003c/a>and got a lesson in how potholes are formed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imagine for a moment life as a section of roadway. Passing cars are constantly pressing down on you, followed by periods of relaxation when there’s no car. All day, every day, year after year. All this repeated pressing and releasing creates tiny imperfections in the pavement that turn into cracks. When you add water into the mix, those cracks get bigger, faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whenever it rains and the rainwater accumulates on the road, tires from the road actually squeeze the water into the pavement,” Caltrans spokesman Bob Haus says. “So that repeated squeezing into the asphalt and into the concrete causes the cracking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water gets through those cracks and weakens the soil under the road. That leads to even more cracking and eventually a pothole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The more traffic, the more potholes. And the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-traffic-ranks-as-4th-worst-in-world-10960858.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Area has no shortage of traffic\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s just a lot of traffic on Bay Area roads,” Haus says. “We all know that. We feel the congestion every day. So there’s just a lot of wear and tear on our highways.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m sure a lot of you are wondering why crews aren’t out there fixing all these potholes. One thing to note: Road workers have to wait for dry conditions to make permanent fixes. So the rain not only makes more potholes, it makes it harder to fix them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Got a question you want to see the \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> team take on? Submit it!\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When you get enough rain to end a drought, there’s gonna be collateral damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re talking about our roads, where some drivers have noticed the extra potholes popping up on our highways and local streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I ran over a pothole on Van Ness,” Muni transit operator Matt Smith says. “It damaged the inner boot of my car and gave me a flat front tire. The pothole was massive. It was massive! It’s no reason why that pothole should not have been fixed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> got this question from Anne Schaefer-Salinas and her son, Declan: Why does bad weather cause potholes?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We spoke to \u003ca href=\"http://www.dot.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Caltrans \u003c/a>and got a lesson in how potholes are formed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imagine for a moment life as a section of roadway. Passing cars are constantly pressing down on you, followed by periods of relaxation when there’s no car. All day, every day, year after year. All this repeated pressing and releasing creates tiny imperfections in the pavement that turn into cracks. When you add water into the mix, those cracks get bigger, faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whenever it rains and the rainwater accumulates on the road, tires from the road actually squeeze the water into the pavement,” Caltrans spokesman Bob Haus says. “So that repeated squeezing into the asphalt and into the concrete causes the cracking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water gets through those cracks and weakens the soil under the road. That leads to even more cracking and eventually a pothole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The more traffic, the more potholes. And the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-traffic-ranks-as-4th-worst-in-world-10960858.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Area has no shortage of traffic\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s just a lot of traffic on Bay Area roads,” Haus says. “We all know that. We feel the congestion every day. So there’s just a lot of wear and tear on our highways.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m sure a lot of you are wondering why crews aren’t out there fixing all these potholes. One thing to note: Road workers have to wait for dry conditions to make permanent fixes. So the rain not only makes more potholes, it makes it harder to fix them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Got a question you want to see the \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> team take on? Submit it!\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Why Do Some Hate the Nickname ‘Frisco’?",
"headTitle": "Why Do Some Hate the Nickname ‘Frisco’? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>FRISCO.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just try dropping that word into conversation these days and see what kind of response you get. Chances are good the nickname will be met with a healthy dose of side-eye, a grimace or even a slap on the wrist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frisco is the nickname we love to hate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> listener Rena Yang, a native of \u003ca href=\"http://www2.oaklandnet.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Oaktown \u003c/a>(people seem fine with this one), asked us why she can’t say “Frisco” without someone’s head exploding nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up, Rena relied on her friends to learn the local lingo, since her family spoke Chinese at home. One of the slang words her friends taught her was Frisco. She used it for years, until one day she slipped it in while talking to a co-worker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11340962\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 160px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11340962\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-160x212.jpg\" alt=\"Rena Yang has been wondering why some people don't like "Frisco" for years.\" width=\"160\" height=\"212\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-160x212.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-800x1059.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-1020x1351.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-1920x2542.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-1180x1563.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-960x1271.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-240x318.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-375x497.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-520x689.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rena Yang has been wondering why some people don’t like “Frisco” for years. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Rena Yang)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“She stops me or she kind of looks at me, and says, ‘Wait, I thought people don’t like that name.’ And I said, ‘Really? I don’t think so,’ ” Rena recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Suddenly, even though she’s a Bay Area native, she felt like an outsider. Ever since she’s wondered: Why all the hate?\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003cbr>\nIf you ask around, people say it’s because it’s disrespectful, truncated, ugly-sounding or icky. Basically, they don’t think the name does the city justice. But we had to find out where these arguments originally came from.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Mysterious Birth\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Let’s start with some history. (Read a \u003ca href=\"http://www.motherjones.com/media/2016/01/san-francisco-frisco-timeline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">great timeline from Mother Jones\u003c/a> here.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11340965\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11340965\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/friscogirl1-160x214.jpg\" alt='Sheet music from 1897 is among the earliest known documents that uses the word \"Frisco.\"' width=\"250\" height=\"335\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/friscogirl1-160x214.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/friscogirl1-240x321.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/friscogirl1-375x502.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/friscogirl1-520x696.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/friscogirl1.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sheet music from 1897 is among the earliest known documents that uses the word “Frisco.” \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/friscogirl.html\" target=\"_blank\">The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Author Charles Fracchia, the founder of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfhistory.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Francisco Museum and Historical Society\u003c/a>, tells me nobody knows exactly where the word originated, but he thinks Frisco got its start in the late 1800s — potentially from some drunkard making a contraction out of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He thinks one of the first written uses was maybe on some sheet music, \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/friscogirl.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">like this example from 1897.\u003c/a> Other people say it may have come earlier, perhaps during the Gold Rush.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frisco’s use was probably in its heyday when the ports were strong here, around the time of World War II in the 1940s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was kind of a working man’s period of time,” Fracchia says. “The port was thriving, you had lots of small manufactories here. Frisco is kind of a working man’s word.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Trashy Name for a Classy City?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The other thing to know: Not long after people started using it, other people started hating it. They said only out-of-towners used it. Tourists, basically.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch2>What Should We Call San Francisco?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Listener Mark Coor, wanted to know what nickname locals are OK with. We conducted a highly \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/KQED/posts/10154024427206191?match=ZnJpc2NvLGtxZWQ%3D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">unscientific survey\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Widely considered OK:\u003cbr>\nSan Francisco\u003cbr>\nThe City*\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes OK:\u003cbr>\nSF\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Needs further discussion:\u003cbr>\nFrisco\u003cbr>\nSan Fran**\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>*People agree ‘the city’ makes the most sense if you’re near the city but not actually physically in it. But that it makes no sense if you’re near another big city like, say, Hong Kong or New York.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>**This is my 5-year-old son’s personal favorite because … logic.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11652705/americas-emperor-san-franciscos-treasure-who-was-emperor-norton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">self-proclaimed emperor\u003c/a> — the Brit Joshua Norton — supposedly banned the use of Frisco in 1872 and said whoever used it would have to pay a $25 fine. But that has not been verified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One person we do know hated the word: Herb Caen, \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/02/us/herb-caen-80-san-francisco-voice-dies.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the revered columnist\u003c/a> for the San Francisco Chronicle. When he wrote about the city, people listened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Herb Caen made San Francisco into almost a village,” Fracchia says. “By the fact that his columns were very popular. There was kind of a lingua franca about them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caen came along after the city had grown from a dinky West Coast outpost into a Gold Rush boomtown with saloons and debauchery, and later into a city that looked more like the East Coast and European cities it wanted to imitate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caen wanted San Francisco to be more classy, more chic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His book, “\u003ca href=\"http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8682323-don-t-call-it-frisco\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Don’t Call It Frisco\u003c/a>,” came out in 1953.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The opening paragraph:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“Don’t call it Frisco — it’s San Francisco, because it was named after St. Francis of Assisi. And because “Frisco” is a nickname that reminds the city uncomfortably of the early, brawling, boisterous days of the Barbary Coast and the cribs and sailors who were shanghaied. And because Frisco shows disrespect for a city that is now big and proper and respectable. And because only tourists call it Frisco anyway, and you don’t want to be taken for a tourist, do you?”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Fracchia says Caen’s book ruined the nickname for a lot of people. People wanted to seem proper, and cultured, so they listened to Caen and shunned it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s when I think it became controversial or contentious,” Fracchia says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Frisco is Loved, Too\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Now, many people associate the word with an earlier generation. And rightly so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take Joey Wilson, co-owner of a tattoo shop in the Mission called … yep, Frisco Tattoo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11339901\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11339901\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Customers of Frisco Tattoo in the Mission sometimes get local pride tattoos that say 'Frisco' or 'San Franpsycho' in fancy lettering.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Customers of Frisco Tattoo in the Mission sometimes get local pride tattoos that say ‘Frisco’ or ‘San Franpsycho’ in fancy lettering. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My parents always called it that,” Wilson says. “They were blue-collar workers. It was just something that was instilled in me as a kid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson remembers Frisco as a part of his childhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I was a little kid, I think I was 12 or 13, there was a bike shop called Frisco Choppers,” Wilson says. “I’d race down there on the bus, down Valencia Street, just to buy a T-shirt that said Frisco in big, bold letters because that was the coolest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today he’s in the Hells Angels — the Frisco chapter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11339672\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11339672 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Joey Wilson co-owns the Mission District tattoo shop, Frisco Tattoo. He grew up saying 'Frisco' and has it tattooed on his wrist.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joey Wilson co-owns the Mission District tattoo shop, Frisco Tattoo. He grew up saying ‘Frisco’ and has it tattooed on his wrist. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>His wife, Lilah Wilson, says they have lots of friends who love Frisco as much as they do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of our friends are kind of small-business owners in the city here actually, and really are owners of the name Frisco,” she says. “We had Frisco Boxing, we have 415 Clothing, we had Frisco Choppers years back. Just kind of the root and background of that name and took it far, with T-shirts and tattoos and blew up that name.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And now Joey Wilson wants to know why Caen’s opinion should matter more than his. After all, Caen was born in Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So that’s the question — why does it upset you to call it Frisco?” he says. “Give us a reason. And who are you to tell us what we can and can’t do? I’m from here. I’m born and raised here, so I think I got rights to call it whatever I want.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Working on this story one day, I grabbed a Lyft and got to talking with the driver, a guy named Lorenzo Beasley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I grew up on the bottom of the city, a small neighborhood called Visitacion Valley,” Beasley says. “I think more of the urban community, like blacks or Hispanics in the city, those people always grew up using that word.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beasley says you hear it in Hunters Point, Lakeview, the Fillmore, Potrero Hill and especially the Mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I asked him who doesn’t like Frisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s like a higher class of people, I guess,” Beasley says. “People who stay in Nob Hill and stuff. They look at it like slang, so they’re not really with it. It’s definitely a bit of snob thing involved.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Beasley, whether you use Frisco says what neighborhood you’re from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://web.stanford.edu/~tcpratt/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Stanford linguist Teresa Pratt\u003c/a> echoes that. She says that when you’re talking about language and word choice, like nicknames, you’re virtually always talking about money and power.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Institutions or people who have power have an interest in maintaining that the way they speak is the right way to speak,” Pratt says. “Because it helps them. Because it’s coupled with this ideology that’s really widespread, that there’s a right way to speak, that there’s a way to speak that gets you ahead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pratt says word choice is like a signal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Language as cultural capital, right?” she says. “It’s something like knowing exactly where to put your forks at the end of a meal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nicknames are even more like that. Knowing which one to use and which one not to use tells people where you belong. Which brings us back to Rena, our question-asker, who suddenly felt out of place because she was called out for using Frisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For someone to correct you on that, it’s kind of like, ‘Ugh, did I have it wrong this whole time?’ ” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, we have some good news for Rena. The famous Herb Caen eventually flip-flopped on Frisco a couple of times in the 1990s. It turns out we’ve built our anti-Frisco bias on some shaky ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, there are a some admirable bootstrap efforts to bring it back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFGate predicted awhile ago that the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Frisco-that-once-verboten-term-for-the-city-by-2582886.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">young and hip\u003c/a> would revive it. Joe Eskenazi wrote for \u003ca href=\"http://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/dont-call-it-frisco-if-youre-old-and-white/Content?oid=2828709\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SF Weekly\u003c/a> that it’s mostly old white people who don’t like it. And Buzzfeed launched a \u003ca href=\"https://www.buzzfeed.com/mathonan/17-reasons-why-its-okay-to-call-it-frisco?utm_term=.taYPdapGR#.oqk835R6q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Call It Frisco” campaign\u003c/a> last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Join the movement?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>FRISCO.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just try dropping that word into conversation these days and see what kind of response you get. Chances are good the nickname will be met with a healthy dose of side-eye, a grimace or even a slap on the wrist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frisco is the nickname we love to hate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> listener Rena Yang, a native of \u003ca href=\"http://www2.oaklandnet.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Oaktown \u003c/a>(people seem fine with this one), asked us why she can’t say “Frisco” without someone’s head exploding nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up, Rena relied on her friends to learn the local lingo, since her family spoke Chinese at home. One of the slang words her friends taught her was Frisco. She used it for years, until one day she slipped it in while talking to a co-worker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11340962\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 160px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11340962\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-160x212.jpg\" alt=\"Rena Yang has been wondering why some people don't like "Frisco" for years.\" width=\"160\" height=\"212\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-160x212.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-800x1059.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-1020x1351.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-1920x2542.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-1180x1563.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-960x1271.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-240x318.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-375x497.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/yang-520x689.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rena Yang has been wondering why some people don’t like “Frisco” for years. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Rena Yang)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“She stops me or she kind of looks at me, and says, ‘Wait, I thought people don’t like that name.’ And I said, ‘Really? I don’t think so,’ ” Rena recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Suddenly, even though she’s a Bay Area native, she felt like an outsider. Ever since she’s wondered: Why all the hate?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\nIf you ask around, people say it’s because it’s disrespectful, truncated, ugly-sounding or icky. Basically, they don’t think the name does the city justice. But we had to find out where these arguments originally came from.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Mysterious Birth\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Let’s start with some history. (Read a \u003ca href=\"http://www.motherjones.com/media/2016/01/san-francisco-frisco-timeline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">great timeline from Mother Jones\u003c/a> here.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11340965\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11340965\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/friscogirl1-160x214.jpg\" alt='Sheet music from 1897 is among the earliest known documents that uses the word \"Frisco.\"' width=\"250\" height=\"335\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/friscogirl1-160x214.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/friscogirl1-240x321.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/friscogirl1-375x502.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/friscogirl1-520x696.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/friscogirl1.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sheet music from 1897 is among the earliest known documents that uses the word “Frisco.” \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/friscogirl.html\" target=\"_blank\">The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Author Charles Fracchia, the founder of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfhistory.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Francisco Museum and Historical Society\u003c/a>, tells me nobody knows exactly where the word originated, but he thinks Frisco got its start in the late 1800s — potentially from some drunkard making a contraction out of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He thinks one of the first written uses was maybe on some sheet music, \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/friscogirl.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">like this example from 1897.\u003c/a> Other people say it may have come earlier, perhaps during the Gold Rush.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frisco’s use was probably in its heyday when the ports were strong here, around the time of World War II in the 1940s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was kind of a working man’s period of time,” Fracchia says. “The port was thriving, you had lots of small manufactories here. Frisco is kind of a working man’s word.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Trashy Name for a Classy City?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The other thing to know: Not long after people started using it, other people started hating it. They said only out-of-towners used it. Tourists, basically.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch2>What Should We Call San Francisco?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Listener Mark Coor, wanted to know what nickname locals are OK with. We conducted a highly \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/KQED/posts/10154024427206191?match=ZnJpc2NvLGtxZWQ%3D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">unscientific survey\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Widely considered OK:\u003cbr>\nSan Francisco\u003cbr>\nThe City*\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes OK:\u003cbr>\nSF\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Needs further discussion:\u003cbr>\nFrisco\u003cbr>\nSan Fran**\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>*People agree ‘the city’ makes the most sense if you’re near the city but not actually physically in it. But that it makes no sense if you’re near another big city like, say, Hong Kong or New York.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>**This is my 5-year-old son’s personal favorite because … logic.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11652705/americas-emperor-san-franciscos-treasure-who-was-emperor-norton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">self-proclaimed emperor\u003c/a> — the Brit Joshua Norton — supposedly banned the use of Frisco in 1872 and said whoever used it would have to pay a $25 fine. But that has not been verified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One person we do know hated the word: Herb Caen, \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/02/us/herb-caen-80-san-francisco-voice-dies.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the revered columnist\u003c/a> for the San Francisco Chronicle. When he wrote about the city, people listened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Herb Caen made San Francisco into almost a village,” Fracchia says. “By the fact that his columns were very popular. There was kind of a lingua franca about them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caen came along after the city had grown from a dinky West Coast outpost into a Gold Rush boomtown with saloons and debauchery, and later into a city that looked more like the East Coast and European cities it wanted to imitate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caen wanted San Francisco to be more classy, more chic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His book, “\u003ca href=\"http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8682323-don-t-call-it-frisco\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Don’t Call It Frisco\u003c/a>,” came out in 1953.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The opening paragraph:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“Don’t call it Frisco — it’s San Francisco, because it was named after St. Francis of Assisi. And because “Frisco” is a nickname that reminds the city uncomfortably of the early, brawling, boisterous days of the Barbary Coast and the cribs and sailors who were shanghaied. And because Frisco shows disrespect for a city that is now big and proper and respectable. And because only tourists call it Frisco anyway, and you don’t want to be taken for a tourist, do you?”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Fracchia says Caen’s book ruined the nickname for a lot of people. People wanted to seem proper, and cultured, so they listened to Caen and shunned it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s when I think it became controversial or contentious,” Fracchia says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Frisco is Loved, Too\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Now, many people associate the word with an earlier generation. And rightly so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take Joey Wilson, co-owner of a tattoo shop in the Mission called … yep, Frisco Tattoo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11339901\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11339901\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Customers of Frisco Tattoo in the Mission sometimes get local pride tattoos that say 'Frisco' or 'San Franpsycho' in fancy lettering.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22143_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs05-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Customers of Frisco Tattoo in the Mission sometimes get local pride tattoos that say ‘Frisco’ or ‘San Franpsycho’ in fancy lettering. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My parents always called it that,” Wilson says. “They were blue-collar workers. It was just something that was instilled in me as a kid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson remembers Frisco as a part of his childhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I was a little kid, I think I was 12 or 13, there was a bike shop called Frisco Choppers,” Wilson says. “I’d race down there on the bus, down Valencia Street, just to buy a T-shirt that said Frisco in big, bold letters because that was the coolest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today he’s in the Hells Angels — the Frisco chapter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11339672\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11339672 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Joey Wilson co-owns the Mission District tattoo shop, Frisco Tattoo. He grew up saying 'Frisco' and has it tattooed on his wrist.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/03/RS22149_161021_FriscoTattoo_bhs11-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joey Wilson co-owns the Mission District tattoo shop, Frisco Tattoo. He grew up saying ‘Frisco’ and has it tattooed on his wrist. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>His wife, Lilah Wilson, says they have lots of friends who love Frisco as much as they do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of our friends are kind of small-business owners in the city here actually, and really are owners of the name Frisco,” she says. “We had Frisco Boxing, we have 415 Clothing, we had Frisco Choppers years back. Just kind of the root and background of that name and took it far, with T-shirts and tattoos and blew up that name.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And now Joey Wilson wants to know why Caen’s opinion should matter more than his. After all, Caen was born in Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So that’s the question — why does it upset you to call it Frisco?” he says. “Give us a reason. And who are you to tell us what we can and can’t do? I’m from here. I’m born and raised here, so I think I got rights to call it whatever I want.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Working on this story one day, I grabbed a Lyft and got to talking with the driver, a guy named Lorenzo Beasley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I grew up on the bottom of the city, a small neighborhood called Visitacion Valley,” Beasley says. “I think more of the urban community, like blacks or Hispanics in the city, those people always grew up using that word.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beasley says you hear it in Hunters Point, Lakeview, the Fillmore, Potrero Hill and especially the Mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I asked him who doesn’t like Frisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s like a higher class of people, I guess,” Beasley says. “People who stay in Nob Hill and stuff. They look at it like slang, so they’re not really with it. It’s definitely a bit of snob thing involved.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Beasley, whether you use Frisco says what neighborhood you’re from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://web.stanford.edu/~tcpratt/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Stanford linguist Teresa Pratt\u003c/a> echoes that. She says that when you’re talking about language and word choice, like nicknames, you’re virtually always talking about money and power.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Institutions or people who have power have an interest in maintaining that the way they speak is the right way to speak,” Pratt says. “Because it helps them. Because it’s coupled with this ideology that’s really widespread, that there’s a right way to speak, that there’s a way to speak that gets you ahead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pratt says word choice is like a signal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Language as cultural capital, right?” she says. “It’s something like knowing exactly where to put your forks at the end of a meal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nicknames are even more like that. Knowing which one to use and which one not to use tells people where you belong. Which brings us back to Rena, our question-asker, who suddenly felt out of place because she was called out for using Frisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For someone to correct you on that, it’s kind of like, ‘Ugh, did I have it wrong this whole time?’ ” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, we have some good news for Rena. The famous Herb Caen eventually flip-flopped on Frisco a couple of times in the 1990s. It turns out we’ve built our anti-Frisco bias on some shaky ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, there are a some admirable bootstrap efforts to bring it back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFGate predicted awhile ago that the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Frisco-that-once-verboten-term-for-the-city-by-2582886.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">young and hip\u003c/a> would revive it. Joe Eskenazi wrote for \u003ca href=\"http://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/dont-call-it-frisco-if-youre-old-and-white/Content?oid=2828709\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SF Weekly\u003c/a> that it’s mostly old white people who don’t like it. And Buzzfeed launched a \u003ca href=\"https://www.buzzfeed.com/mathonan/17-reasons-why-its-okay-to-call-it-frisco?utm_term=.taYPdapGR#.oqk835R6q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Call It Frisco” campaign\u003c/a> last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Join the movement?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "why-is-marin-county-so-white",
"title": "Why is Marin County So White?",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Take a trip through some pivotal moments in Marin history that contributed to its demographics today. \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">podcast\u003c/a> from KQED that answers your questions about the Bay Area. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ix years ago, Henry Ma moved to the Bay Area with his wife from New York City. They settled in San Rafael — the perfect location between both of their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they had two girls, he started to notice something about where he lived in Marin County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our daughter was the only Asian in the school of 72 kids,” Ma said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It made him wonder: “The Bay Area is one of the most diverse places in the country. Within the Bay Area, why is Marin County the least diverse?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11312354\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11312354\" title=\"Courtesy of Henry Ma\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-800x1106.jpg\" alt=\"attachment (8)\" width=\"300\" height=\"415\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-800x1106.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-160x221.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-1020x1410.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-1920x2655.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-1180x1632.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-960x1327.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-240x332.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-375x518.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-520x719.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Henry Ma lives in San Rafael \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Henry Ma)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Looking at the Numbers\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The data back up Henry’s experience. According to the most recent U.S. Census data, a huge majority — as in 72 percent — of people who live in Marin County identify their race as white. And that doesn’t include Hispanic/Latino folks who also identify as white.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For comparison,\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Alameda County is 33 percent white and 29 percent Asian. Asians make up just 6 percent of people in Marin County.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But look back at Marin County’s history and you’ll find that it wasn’t always that way. In fact, its demographic history is not too far off from the rest of the Bay Area’s. Archives at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.marinlibrary.org/californiaroom/\">Anne T. Kent California Room\u003c/a> show that what is now Marin County was once almost completely occupied by tribes of the Coast Miwok Indians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1817, the Spanish established Mission San Rafael Arcangel in what is now the city of San Rafael. Between 1834-1846, significant portions of Marin were owned by people of Spanish and Mexican descent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, there was a huge influx of African-Americans who came to work in the shipyards during World War II, though it wasn’t enough to change the demographics significantly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what explains the county’s demographics as they look today?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A common guess is that it has to do with the lack of public transportation options in Marin County. BART, for example, doesn’t reach the North Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Low-income residents who live in San Rafael — home to the highest percentage of Latinos in Marin County — \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/kqednews/RN201111300630/a\">have reported\u003c/a> that they live there because of the public transportation options. San Rafael has the most used transit service in the county, and some residents say that better transit throughout the county would \u003ca href=\"http://www.reimaginerpe.org/node/2813\">allow them to move.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there’s a lot more to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>How Conservation Efforts Took Up Space\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There were a few huge moments in Marin County history that played a role in changing the demographics of the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first came in 1896, when a couple of business-minded conservationists built the\u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/muwo/learn/historyculture/upload/MtTamMUWOrrIDP.pdf\"> Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railway.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railroad, 1926\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/V8KlsOxpzAM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The railway was an 8-mile long, open-air ride up the side of Mount Tamalpais. At the peak of the mountain was a spectacular view of the San Francisco Bay Area. There was a resort, a grand restaurant, bar and tavern where visitors could stay the night. People from the East Coast and even Europe would travel to Marin County to ride the railway in long dresses and three-piece suits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the main purpose of the railway was to showcase the natural beauty of Marin so that people would want to preserve it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Seeing those things inspired people to want to create the national parks they have now,” said Fred Runner, \u003ca href=\"http://www.marinij.com/article/NO/20170102/NEWS/170109973\">a historian\u003c/a> who wrote a book on the historic railway. “Their whole thing was to show off the lovely scenery and to try to promote wilderness conservation. Everybody who worked on the railroad believed in that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11312357\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11312357\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-1020x650.jpg\" alt=\"Fred Runner stands in front of the Book Depot in Mill Valley, where the Mt. Tam Science Railway trains would board passengers.\" width=\"640\" height=\"408\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-1020x650.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-800x510.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-1180x752.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-960x612.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-240x153.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-375x239.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-520x332.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149.jpg 1752w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fred Runner stands in front of the Book Depot in Mill Valley, where the Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railway trains would board passengers. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The railway was just the start of fruitful conservation efforts in Marin County — efforts that today leave around \u003ca href=\"http://www.marincounty.org/main/county-press-releases/press-releases/2016/deeper-affordablehousing-071416\">80 percent\u003c/a> of the county undeveloped because of long-standing commitments to land preservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marin County has \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/2012/05/22/bay-area-open-space-75-percent-is-being-protected-but-300000-acres-are-still-at-risk/\">the most\u003c/a> land set aside for preservation of any Bay Area county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the battles that raged early on was to try and stop building homes,” said Runner. “There were a number of legal battles around that — just by the skin of their teeth — being able to stop housing developments and create preserved wilderness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11315553\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11315553\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/21046960594_a078496170_k-1020x680.jpg\" alt=\"The Mt. Tamalpais Watershed\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mount Tamalpais Watershed \u003ccite>( \u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/jesse/21046960594/in/photolist-2kcPC3-2kcPAu-2kcPxq-2kcPxG-2kcPBG-2kcPAm-7HgJCy-gPaXKd-9Doaub-q1GG9S-q1GGFJ-p71GvU-pLpPow-aMxGi6-p74km2-aMxEbZ-7UCwmZ-p71HHU-2k8UNr-aomb5K-aooWsG-aokUfH-wBdWNn-p74k4t-jWF2Ao-pLpPrs-6Cetsq-q3Cwbr-pLpPBh-dtbMoy-6qaEXZ-aMxFHc-aMxC2R-5FY3DA-6CerH9-6CesJ9-6nsL7e-6CaiW2-aMxDQB-E93ukJ-aMxBXF-4nr8vF-xtUmm-6CetkY-aomxxK-aokU6B-Gk5gcg-B6unam-y4Rb7W-dtbzLK/\">Jesse Wagstaff\u003c/a>/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A combination of limited land, zoning laws and Marin County’s proximity to San Francisco created a scenario in which the demand for housing far outweighed supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The homes that were built were very expensive. Who doesn’t want to live next to a giant park, right? Today, the median household income is nearly $94,000 a year, according to census data. This, over time, began to limit who was able to move into Marin County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11312513\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11312513\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3364-1-1020x680.jpg\" alt=\"Fred Runner shows historic photos of the Mount Tam Scenic Railway from his book.\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fred Runner shows historic photos of the Mount Tam Scenic Railway from his book. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Fights Over Affordable Housing\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Marin’s skewed demographics caught the attention of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2011, and it conducted \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/kqednews/RN201111300630/a\">an audit\u003c/a> on the county. It sought to answer: Was the county working hard enough to include people of color in its housing plans?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“HUD identified Marin as a county of interest because Marin County is primarily white,” said Jessica Tankersley Sparks, who co-wrote a report called the \u003ca href=\"http://www.marincounty.org/~/media/files/departments/cd/federal-grants/analysis_of_impediments_to_fair_housing_choice.pdf\">“Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice”\u003c/a> for Marin County. “In comparison to surrounding counties, those demographics are strikingly different from the demographics in Marin County.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11315486\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11315486\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/26672489733_ae180a6d9e_k-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"The median household income in Marin County is almost $94,000 a year. \" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The median household income in Marin County is almost $94,000 a year. \u003ccite>( \u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/elchode/26672489733/in/photolist-GCXtWD-Hsjcj4-dvCB1v-dvCzUF-dvCERa-dvCFAR-dvCA1T-dvCDf8-dvJcz3-dvJdZC-dvCBpR-dvCAAe-dvJbnW-dvJfL1-dvCGfv-dvCDCp-dvCF3z-dvCE4x-dvCGtx-dvJcMw-dvCG2H-dvCEEM-dvJf1w-dvCFqa-dvCAo8-dvCBdc-dvCAd8-dvCCra-bo1BCA-Mdhpkp-8PGSn4-aZMCSn-bmMDpE-bnbqaY-62BHuv-62FYHJ-dayJcL-di1JFY-di1Js5-LAPshW-Lufx11-LAPktL-LufF45-fiEDBv-fiEFip-fiEBHM-fiUPBj-fiUNZ9-fiEFZB-fiUV9L\">Garden State Hiker\u003c/a>/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The county’s demographics looked a lot like Westchester County in New York, which became the site of a famous fair housing lawsuit related to patterns of residential segregation. Officials suspected the same thing might be happening in Marin County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you talk about Marin County, you really have to look at the history of segregation,” said Caroline Peattie, executive director of \u003ca href=\"http://www.fairhousingnorcal.org/\">Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California \u003c/a>and another co-author of the audit. “In some ways it’s not atypical. It just played out in slightly different ways.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11319043\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11319043\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-1020x651.jpg\" alt=\"Caroline Peattie, executive director of Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California, sits in her office in San Rafael.\" width=\"640\" height=\"408\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-1020x651.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-800x511.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-1180x753.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-960x613.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-240x153.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-375x239.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-520x332.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215.jpg 1690w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Caroline Peattie, executive director of Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California, sits in her office in San Rafael. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The audit found that the county had \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/kqednews/RN201111300630/a\">failed to comply\u003c/a> with fair housing and civil rights laws, agreeing that it had built only a fraction of the low-income housing mandated by the Association of Bay Area Governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By failing to comply with these laws, the audit found, Marin County had failed to take active steps to welcome the people those laws sought to protect — including people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]“What we saw by and large was that the effective opposition to affordable housing had a corollary effect of creating impediments to housing choice to people in protected classes,” said Sparks. “[That includes] people of color, people with children, people with disabilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marin County isn’t the only place with some history of opposition to affordable housing. But other factors — namely, all of the land set aside for conservation — made it that much more difficult to find suitable places to build affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11319045\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11319045 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3289-1020x589.jpg\" alt='A painting that reads \"Good neighbors come in all colors\" hangs in the office at Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California, which was formerly known as Fair Housing of Marin. ' width=\"640\" height=\"370\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A painting that reads “good neighbors come in all colors” hangs in the office of Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California, which was formerly known as Fair Housing of Marin. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Marin is very wealthy and the houses here cost quite a bit,” said Peattie. “It’s hard to own property here [and it’s] easy to say, ‘Oh, it’s just a question about money, it’s not about race at all.’ But it’s not that simple.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Role of Reputation\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>While the lack of affordable housing answers why low-income people of color might not move into Marin, why aren’t high-income people of color moving there?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.responsiblelending.org/research-publication/drought-continues-mortgage-credit-runs-dry-californians-color\">A report \u003c/a>from the Center for Responsible Lending found that people of color in California who can afford to move into expensive neighborhoods typically choose not to. Instead, they mostly still choose to live in low-income, majority-minority neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”rIdDhGSTpcv7i0SqEAzWbFQegR0YIq4O”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People are quick to turn to a “self-segregation” argument, says professor Maria Krysan, head of the \u003ca href=\"https://soc.uic.edu/\">sociology department\u003c/a> at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She thinks that argument doesn’t hold up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The desire to avoid those settings is not driven by an affinity to live with their own kind, but a desire to avoid negative treatment by their neighbors,” says Krysan. “Certainly a perception or reputation of a community, and its openness to people of your own race and ethnicity, is something that comes up more often for African-Americans and Latinos than it does for whites.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This anticipation for hostility, she says, has historical precedence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[It] comes from a history of discrimination and discriminatory treatment. It comes from a long history of that for African-Americans moving into white neighborhoods,” she said. “People trying to move into these communities were met with a great deal of hostility and violence, and I think that the memory of that and the repeat performance of that over time, creates a dynamic of anticipated discrimination that can make it an unpleasant prospect to move into an all-white neighborhood — especially if that neighborhood has been making the news or has reinforced that reputation of not being welcoming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">“It’s hard to own property here, and it’s easy to say, ‘Oh, it’s just a question about money, it’s not about race at all.’ But it’s not that simple.”\u003ccite>Caroline Peattie, Executive Director of Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003c/aside>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003c/aside>\n\u003ch3>Fighting Perception\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>I met a guy named John Young, who was born and raised in Marin City. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He’s African-American and he says he knows people of color who have floated around this idea of Marin as a place just for white people.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“That’s why a lot of people of color stay away,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Young hoped to change that. He became executive director of a group called Marin Grassroots, which was all about empowering people of color in local politics in Marin — a task he says was a challenging one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11319047\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11319047\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3375-1020x680.jpg\" alt=\"John Young sits in his Vallejo home, where he's lived for 17 years now. He was born and raised in Marin City.\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Young sits in his Vallejo home, where he’s lived for 17 years now. He was born and raised in Marin City. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There was no baseline for social justice anywhere there,” he said. “Even the language of social justice, social equity … there was none of that present in Marin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young admits that he had his fair share of encounters with cops because of “driving while black.” But he also says he loves Marin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We didn’t really have whites on this side, blacks on [that side],” he said. “I didn’t walk outside saying, ‘Oh, this is a racist place where I live at.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">John lives in Vallejo now because he couldn’t afford to stay. But if he could move back, he would. He says there are people in Marin County who recognize the lack of diversity, and who are working to change it — including white people. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Setting That ‘Represents Society’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Marin has made some changes that some say are steps in the right direction. County supervisors are trying to get landlords to rent to more Section 8 voucher holders, for example. They’ve also taken \u003ca href=\"http://www.marinij.com/article/NO/20151119/NEWS/151119763\">some measures\u003c/a> to begin making up for their shortage of affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I asked Henry Ma why he asked us this question, it was personal — especially when it came to his kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t want them to think that they are such a rare occurrence — that being Asian is such a rare situation,” said Ma. “We don’t know how it’s going to shape their view.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s important to him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just think that when they get out to society that the representation is not going to be like this,” he said. “We want to expose them to a setting that represents society. That’s all that we want to ask for.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Take a trip through some pivotal moments in Marin history that contributed to its demographics today. \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">podcast\u003c/a> from KQED that answers your questions about the Bay Area. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">S\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>ix years ago, Henry Ma moved to the Bay Area with his wife from New York City. They settled in San Rafael — the perfect location between both of their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they had two girls, he started to notice something about where he lived in Marin County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our daughter was the only Asian in the school of 72 kids,” Ma said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It made him wonder: “The Bay Area is one of the most diverse places in the country. Within the Bay Area, why is Marin County the least diverse?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11312354\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11312354\" title=\"Courtesy of Henry Ma\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-800x1106.jpg\" alt=\"attachment (8)\" width=\"300\" height=\"415\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-800x1106.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-160x221.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-1020x1410.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-1920x2655.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-1180x1632.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-960x1327.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-240x332.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-375x518.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/attachment-8-e1486850618807-520x719.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Henry Ma lives in San Rafael \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Henry Ma)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Looking at the Numbers\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The data back up Henry’s experience. According to the most recent U.S. Census data, a huge majority — as in 72 percent — of people who live in Marin County identify their race as white. And that doesn’t include Hispanic/Latino folks who also identify as white.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For comparison,\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Alameda County is 33 percent white and 29 percent Asian. Asians make up just 6 percent of people in Marin County.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But look back at Marin County’s history and you’ll find that it wasn’t always that way. In fact, its demographic history is not too far off from the rest of the Bay Area’s. Archives at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.marinlibrary.org/californiaroom/\">Anne T. Kent California Room\u003c/a> show that what is now Marin County was once almost completely occupied by tribes of the Coast Miwok Indians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1817, the Spanish established Mission San Rafael Arcangel in what is now the city of San Rafael. Between 1834-1846, significant portions of Marin were owned by people of Spanish and Mexican descent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, there was a huge influx of African-Americans who came to work in the shipyards during World War II, though it wasn’t enough to change the demographics significantly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what explains the county’s demographics as they look today?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A common guess is that it has to do with the lack of public transportation options in Marin County. BART, for example, doesn’t reach the North Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Low-income residents who live in San Rafael — home to the highest percentage of Latinos in Marin County — \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/kqednews/RN201111300630/a\">have reported\u003c/a> that they live there because of the public transportation options. San Rafael has the most used transit service in the county, and some residents say that better transit throughout the county would \u003ca href=\"http://www.reimaginerpe.org/node/2813\">allow them to move.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there’s a lot more to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>How Conservation Efforts Took Up Space\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There were a few huge moments in Marin County history that played a role in changing the demographics of the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first came in 1896, when a couple of business-minded conservationists built the\u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/muwo/learn/historyculture/upload/MtTamMUWOrrIDP.pdf\"> Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railway.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railroad, 1926\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/V8KlsOxpzAM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The railway was an 8-mile long, open-air ride up the side of Mount Tamalpais. At the peak of the mountain was a spectacular view of the San Francisco Bay Area. There was a resort, a grand restaurant, bar and tavern where visitors could stay the night. People from the East Coast and even Europe would travel to Marin County to ride the railway in long dresses and three-piece suits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the main purpose of the railway was to showcase the natural beauty of Marin so that people would want to preserve it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Seeing those things inspired people to want to create the national parks they have now,” said Fred Runner, \u003ca href=\"http://www.marinij.com/article/NO/20170102/NEWS/170109973\">a historian\u003c/a> who wrote a book on the historic railway. “Their whole thing was to show off the lovely scenery and to try to promote wilderness conservation. Everybody who worked on the railroad believed in that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11312357\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11312357\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-1020x650.jpg\" alt=\"Fred Runner stands in front of the Book Depot in Mill Valley, where the Mt. Tam Science Railway trains would board passengers.\" width=\"640\" height=\"408\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-1020x650.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-800x510.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-1180x752.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-960x612.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-240x153.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-375x239.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149-520x332.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3351-e1486850814149.jpg 1752w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fred Runner stands in front of the Book Depot in Mill Valley, where the Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railway trains would board passengers. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The railway was just the start of fruitful conservation efforts in Marin County — efforts that today leave around \u003ca href=\"http://www.marincounty.org/main/county-press-releases/press-releases/2016/deeper-affordablehousing-071416\">80 percent\u003c/a> of the county undeveloped because of long-standing commitments to land preservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marin County has \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/2012/05/22/bay-area-open-space-75-percent-is-being-protected-but-300000-acres-are-still-at-risk/\">the most\u003c/a> land set aside for preservation of any Bay Area county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the battles that raged early on was to try and stop building homes,” said Runner. “There were a number of legal battles around that — just by the skin of their teeth — being able to stop housing developments and create preserved wilderness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11315553\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11315553\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/21046960594_a078496170_k-1020x680.jpg\" alt=\"The Mt. Tamalpais Watershed\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mount Tamalpais Watershed \u003ccite>( \u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/jesse/21046960594/in/photolist-2kcPC3-2kcPAu-2kcPxq-2kcPxG-2kcPBG-2kcPAm-7HgJCy-gPaXKd-9Doaub-q1GG9S-q1GGFJ-p71GvU-pLpPow-aMxGi6-p74km2-aMxEbZ-7UCwmZ-p71HHU-2k8UNr-aomb5K-aooWsG-aokUfH-wBdWNn-p74k4t-jWF2Ao-pLpPrs-6Cetsq-q3Cwbr-pLpPBh-dtbMoy-6qaEXZ-aMxFHc-aMxC2R-5FY3DA-6CerH9-6CesJ9-6nsL7e-6CaiW2-aMxDQB-E93ukJ-aMxBXF-4nr8vF-xtUmm-6CetkY-aomxxK-aokU6B-Gk5gcg-B6unam-y4Rb7W-dtbzLK/\">Jesse Wagstaff\u003c/a>/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A combination of limited land, zoning laws and Marin County’s proximity to San Francisco created a scenario in which the demand for housing far outweighed supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The homes that were built were very expensive. Who doesn’t want to live next to a giant park, right? Today, the median household income is nearly $94,000 a year, according to census data. This, over time, began to limit who was able to move into Marin County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11312513\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11312513\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3364-1-1020x680.jpg\" alt=\"Fred Runner shows historic photos of the Mount Tam Scenic Railway from his book.\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fred Runner shows historic photos of the Mount Tam Scenic Railway from his book. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Fights Over Affordable Housing\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Marin’s skewed demographics caught the attention of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2011, and it conducted \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/kqednews/RN201111300630/a\">an audit\u003c/a> on the county. It sought to answer: Was the county working hard enough to include people of color in its housing plans?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“HUD identified Marin as a county of interest because Marin County is primarily white,” said Jessica Tankersley Sparks, who co-wrote a report called the \u003ca href=\"http://www.marincounty.org/~/media/files/departments/cd/federal-grants/analysis_of_impediments_to_fair_housing_choice.pdf\">“Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice”\u003c/a> for Marin County. “In comparison to surrounding counties, those demographics are strikingly different from the demographics in Marin County.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11315486\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11315486\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/26672489733_ae180a6d9e_k-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"The median household income in Marin County is almost $94,000 a year. \" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The median household income in Marin County is almost $94,000 a year. \u003ccite>( \u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/elchode/26672489733/in/photolist-GCXtWD-Hsjcj4-dvCB1v-dvCzUF-dvCERa-dvCFAR-dvCA1T-dvCDf8-dvJcz3-dvJdZC-dvCBpR-dvCAAe-dvJbnW-dvJfL1-dvCGfv-dvCDCp-dvCF3z-dvCE4x-dvCGtx-dvJcMw-dvCG2H-dvCEEM-dvJf1w-dvCFqa-dvCAo8-dvCBdc-dvCAd8-dvCCra-bo1BCA-Mdhpkp-8PGSn4-aZMCSn-bmMDpE-bnbqaY-62BHuv-62FYHJ-dayJcL-di1JFY-di1Js5-LAPshW-Lufx11-LAPktL-LufF45-fiEDBv-fiEFip-fiEBHM-fiUPBj-fiUNZ9-fiEFZB-fiUV9L\">Garden State Hiker\u003c/a>/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The county’s demographics looked a lot like Westchester County in New York, which became the site of a famous fair housing lawsuit related to patterns of residential segregation. Officials suspected the same thing might be happening in Marin County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you talk about Marin County, you really have to look at the history of segregation,” said Caroline Peattie, executive director of \u003ca href=\"http://www.fairhousingnorcal.org/\">Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California \u003c/a>and another co-author of the audit. “In some ways it’s not atypical. It just played out in slightly different ways.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11319043\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11319043\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-1020x651.jpg\" alt=\"Caroline Peattie, executive director of Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California, sits in her office in San Rafael.\" width=\"640\" height=\"408\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-1020x651.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-800x511.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-1180x753.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-960x613.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-240x153.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-375x239.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215-520x332.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3271-e1487232694215.jpg 1690w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Caroline Peattie, executive director of Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California, sits in her office in San Rafael. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The audit found that the county had \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/kqednews/RN201111300630/a\">failed to comply\u003c/a> with fair housing and civil rights laws, agreeing that it had built only a fraction of the low-income housing mandated by the Association of Bay Area Governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By failing to comply with these laws, the audit found, Marin County had failed to take active steps to welcome the people those laws sought to protect — including people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>“What we saw by and large was that the effective opposition to affordable housing had a corollary effect of creating impediments to housing choice to people in protected classes,” said Sparks. “[That includes] people of color, people with children, people with disabilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marin County isn’t the only place with some history of opposition to affordable housing. But other factors — namely, all of the land set aside for conservation — made it that much more difficult to find suitable places to build affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11319045\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11319045 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3289-1020x589.jpg\" alt='A painting that reads \"Good neighbors come in all colors\" hangs in the office at Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California, which was formerly known as Fair Housing of Marin. ' width=\"640\" height=\"370\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A painting that reads “good neighbors come in all colors” hangs in the office of Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California, which was formerly known as Fair Housing of Marin. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Marin is very wealthy and the houses here cost quite a bit,” said Peattie. “It’s hard to own property here [and it’s] easy to say, ‘Oh, it’s just a question about money, it’s not about race at all.’ But it’s not that simple.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Role of Reputation\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>While the lack of affordable housing answers why low-income people of color might not move into Marin, why aren’t high-income people of color moving there?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.responsiblelending.org/research-publication/drought-continues-mortgage-credit-runs-dry-californians-color\">A report \u003c/a>from the Center for Responsible Lending found that people of color in California who can afford to move into expensive neighborhoods typically choose not to. Instead, they mostly still choose to live in low-income, majority-minority neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People are quick to turn to a “self-segregation” argument, says professor Maria Krysan, head of the \u003ca href=\"https://soc.uic.edu/\">sociology department\u003c/a> at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She thinks that argument doesn’t hold up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The desire to avoid those settings is not driven by an affinity to live with their own kind, but a desire to avoid negative treatment by their neighbors,” says Krysan. “Certainly a perception or reputation of a community, and its openness to people of your own race and ethnicity, is something that comes up more often for African-Americans and Latinos than it does for whites.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This anticipation for hostility, she says, has historical precedence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[It] comes from a history of discrimination and discriminatory treatment. It comes from a long history of that for African-Americans moving into white neighborhoods,” she said. “People trying to move into these communities were met with a great deal of hostility and violence, and I think that the memory of that and the repeat performance of that over time, creates a dynamic of anticipated discrimination that can make it an unpleasant prospect to move into an all-white neighborhood — especially if that neighborhood has been making the news or has reinforced that reputation of not being welcoming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">“It’s hard to own property here, and it’s easy to say, ‘Oh, it’s just a question about money, it’s not about race at all.’ But it’s not that simple.”\u003ccite>Caroline Peattie, Executive Director of Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003c/aside>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003c/aside>\n\u003ch3>Fighting Perception\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>I met a guy named John Young, who was born and raised in Marin City. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He’s African-American and he says he knows people of color who have floated around this idea of Marin as a place just for white people.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“That’s why a lot of people of color stay away,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Young hoped to change that. He became executive director of a group called Marin Grassroots, which was all about empowering people of color in local politics in Marin — a task he says was a challenging one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11319047\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11319047\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/IMG_3375-1020x680.jpg\" alt=\"John Young sits in his Vallejo home, where he's lived for 17 years now. He was born and raised in Marin City.\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Young sits in his Vallejo home, where he’s lived for 17 years now. He was born and raised in Marin City. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There was no baseline for social justice anywhere there,” he said. “Even the language of social justice, social equity … there was none of that present in Marin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young admits that he had his fair share of encounters with cops because of “driving while black.” But he also says he loves Marin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We didn’t really have whites on this side, blacks on [that side],” he said. “I didn’t walk outside saying, ‘Oh, this is a racist place where I live at.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">John lives in Vallejo now because he couldn’t afford to stay. But if he could move back, he would. He says there are people in Marin County who recognize the lack of diversity, and who are working to change it — including white people. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Setting That ‘Represents Society’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Marin has made some changes that some say are steps in the right direction. County supervisors are trying to get landlords to rent to more Section 8 voucher holders, for example. They’ve also taken \u003ca href=\"http://www.marinij.com/article/NO/20151119/NEWS/151119763\">some measures\u003c/a> to begin making up for their shortage of affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I asked Henry Ma why he asked us this question, it was personal — especially when it came to his kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t want them to think that they are such a rare occurrence — that being Asian is such a rare situation,” said Ma. “We don’t know how it’s going to shape their view.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s important to him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just think that when they get out to society that the representation is not going to be like this,” he said. “We want to expose them to a setting that represents society. That’s all that we want to ask for.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "How Many Are Being Displaced by Gentrification in Oakland?",
"headTitle": "How Many Are Being Displaced by Gentrification in Oakland? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here are a couple of go-to topics of conversation when you meet someone new in the Bay Area — the weather and the crushing cost of housing. The first is a bit befuddling for a place that sees so little weather variation from day to day, and even month to month. But housing on the other hand … \u003cem>ooof\u003c/em>. There is so much to say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rents are up. Housing prices are up. We’re all paying more and it seems no one is immune.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The place where prices are rising the fastest isn’t San Francisco anymore — \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-23/san-francisco-housing-frenzy-shifts-across-the-bay-to-oakland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">it’s Oakland\u003c/a>. Between July 2011 and July 2016 the median price of a home nearly doubled to $626,000, according to real estate website \u003ca href=\"https://www.trulia.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trulia\u003c/a>. And median rents went up by $1,100 during that time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”2lmzFzBbk5JUfVdELogJbDbtSdG7YjUi”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seeing these market forces at play, \u003ca href=\"http://baycurious.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> listener Elena Foshay wonders: “How many people are actually being displaced by gentrification in Oakland?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Driving at a Number\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Ok, first, a disclaimer: It’s nearly impossible to get an exact number of how many people are being displaced because we can’t know \u003cem>why\u003c/em> everyone decides, or is forced, to move. It’s not like there is an exit survey that people fill out when they drive their U-Haul across the Oakland border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We \u003cem>can\u003c/em> use \u003ca href=\"https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B07410&geo_ids=16000US0653000,05000US06001,04000US06,01000US&primary_geo_id=16000US0653000#valueType%7Cestimate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">U.S. Census Bureau outmigration data\u003c/a> to learn about \u003cem>who\u003c/em> is leaving Oakland, and that can give us some clues about the magnitude of economic displacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assuming that all things are fair and equal (I know, I know, use your imagination for a moment), we would expect people of different income groups to move out of a city at a rate proportional to their population in the city. In Oakland, 14.6 percent of households make less than $30,000, so we’d expect about 14.6 percent of people in that income level to leave the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 2010 and 2014, \u003ca href=\"https://www.trulia.com/blog/trends/priced-out-migration/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trulia\u003c/a> found 28 percent of those leaving Oakland made less than $30,000. That’s nearly double what we would expect, and confirms that low-income people are leaving the city at disproportionately high rates. At the other end of the spectrum, high-income earners making $150,000 or more are leaving at a rate about 30 percent lower than expected. All this points to cost being a major driver of who has to leave and who gets to stay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How many people are we talking about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During that five-year span between 2010 and 2014, 104,544 people left Oakland. (Sidenote: 108,649 people moved in, so overall the city grew.) So, we’ll speculate that during the five-year span, at least 14,008 left Oakland for economic reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That number is likely on the low end of reality because it doesn’t factor in households making more than $30,000. There are certainly many people making middle or high incomes who can’t afford a comfortable life in Oakland, especially with a family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We can also tell from census data that people of color are leaving Oakland in record numbers. Since 2000, the city has lost 30 percent of its black population — a notable trend for a city that was once 47 percent black, and home to the Black Panther Party.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Where is Everybody Going?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>According to census data, the majority of residents being pushed out of Oakland are staying in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11307804\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11307804\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-1020x574.png\" alt=\"saleprice\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-1020x574.png 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-160x90.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-800x450.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-1180x664.png 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-960x540.png 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-240x135.png 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-375x211.png 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-520x293.png 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice.png 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Housing prices are on the rise in Antioch, too.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>KQED reporters Devin Katayama and Sandhya Dirks spent a year reporting on the outmigration of low-income residents and people of color from Oakland, San Francisco and Richmond to the surrounding suburbs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As we were reporting on Oakland we kept hearing, ‘Oh, they’re going out to Antioch,’ ‘He moved to Antioch,’ ‘She moved to Antioch,’ ” says Dirks. “So, we went to Antioch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The traditionally white working-class community about 45 miles east of San Francisco is undergoing a change that is often overlooked in reports about gentrification in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Listen to the first episode of their project, \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/programs/qedup/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Suburb\u003c/a>, which is Season 1 of KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/programs/qedup/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Q’ed Up podcast\u003c/a>. Their work answers many more questions about the impacts of gentrification on Oakland and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[audio src=\"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/www.kqed.org/.stream/mp3splice/radio/qed-up/2017/02/Chapter1TippingPointMastereddk2.mp3\" Image=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/RS24041__MG_65391.jpg\" Title=\"American Suburb: The Tipping Point\" program=\"Q'ed Up\"]\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">T\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>here are a couple of go-to topics of conversation when you meet someone new in the Bay Area — the weather and the crushing cost of housing. The first is a bit befuddling for a place that sees so little weather variation from day to day, and even month to month. But housing on the other hand … \u003cem>ooof\u003c/em>. There is so much to say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rents are up. Housing prices are up. We’re all paying more and it seems no one is immune.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The place where prices are rising the fastest isn’t San Francisco anymore — \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-23/san-francisco-housing-frenzy-shifts-across-the-bay-to-oakland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">it’s Oakland\u003c/a>. Between July 2011 and July 2016 the median price of a home nearly doubled to $626,000, according to real estate website \u003ca href=\"https://www.trulia.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trulia\u003c/a>. And median rents went up by $1,100 during that time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seeing these market forces at play, \u003ca href=\"http://baycurious.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> listener Elena Foshay wonders: “How many people are actually being displaced by gentrification in Oakland?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Driving at a Number\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Ok, first, a disclaimer: It’s nearly impossible to get an exact number of how many people are being displaced because we can’t know \u003cem>why\u003c/em> everyone decides, or is forced, to move. It’s not like there is an exit survey that people fill out when they drive their U-Haul across the Oakland border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We \u003cem>can\u003c/em> use \u003ca href=\"https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B07410&geo_ids=16000US0653000,05000US06001,04000US06,01000US&primary_geo_id=16000US0653000#valueType%7Cestimate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">U.S. Census Bureau outmigration data\u003c/a> to learn about \u003cem>who\u003c/em> is leaving Oakland, and that can give us some clues about the magnitude of economic displacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assuming that all things are fair and equal (I know, I know, use your imagination for a moment), we would expect people of different income groups to move out of a city at a rate proportional to their population in the city. In Oakland, 14.6 percent of households make less than $30,000, so we’d expect about 14.6 percent of people in that income level to leave the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 2010 and 2014, \u003ca href=\"https://www.trulia.com/blog/trends/priced-out-migration/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trulia\u003c/a> found 28 percent of those leaving Oakland made less than $30,000. That’s nearly double what we would expect, and confirms that low-income people are leaving the city at disproportionately high rates. At the other end of the spectrum, high-income earners making $150,000 or more are leaving at a rate about 30 percent lower than expected. All this points to cost being a major driver of who has to leave and who gets to stay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How many people are we talking about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During that five-year span between 2010 and 2014, 104,544 people left Oakland. (Sidenote: 108,649 people moved in, so overall the city grew.) So, we’ll speculate that during the five-year span, at least 14,008 left Oakland for economic reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That number is likely on the low end of reality because it doesn’t factor in households making more than $30,000. There are certainly many people making middle or high incomes who can’t afford a comfortable life in Oakland, especially with a family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We can also tell from census data that people of color are leaving Oakland in record numbers. Since 2000, the city has lost 30 percent of its black population — a notable trend for a city that was once 47 percent black, and home to the Black Panther Party.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Where is Everybody Going?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>According to census data, the majority of residents being pushed out of Oakland are staying in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11307804\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11307804\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-1020x574.png\" alt=\"saleprice\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-1020x574.png 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-160x90.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-800x450.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-1180x664.png 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-960x540.png 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-240x135.png 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-375x211.png 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice-520x293.png 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/02/saleprice.png 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Housing prices are on the rise in Antioch, too.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>KQED reporters Devin Katayama and Sandhya Dirks spent a year reporting on the outmigration of low-income residents and people of color from Oakland, San Francisco and Richmond to the surrounding suburbs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As we were reporting on Oakland we kept hearing, ‘Oh, they’re going out to Antioch,’ ‘He moved to Antioch,’ ‘She moved to Antioch,’ ” says Dirks. “So, we went to Antioch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The traditionally white working-class community about 45 miles east of San Francisco is undergoing a change that is often overlooked in reports about gentrification in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Listen to the first episode of their project, \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/programs/qedup/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Suburb\u003c/a>, which is Season 1 of KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/programs/qedup/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Q’ed Up podcast\u003c/a>. Their work answers many more questions about the impacts of gentrification on Oakland and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Why Does San Jose Have So Many Urban Islands?",
"headTitle": "Why Does San Jose Have So Many Urban Islands? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> listener Kristin Seitz was looking at a map of San Jose when she noticed an awful lot of holes. The city’s territory isn’t one undivided shape, but rather resembles a piece of Swiss cheese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seitz wondered: Why are there so many unincorporated “urban islands” in the San Jose area?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To find out, first we went to Jane Power’s house. When you stand on her front porch, you’d think you’re in San Jose. Walk 10 minutes south and you can be at San Jose City College. Drive a few miles east and you can be in the city’s downtown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when Power and her neighbors cast their ballots, they don’t get to vote for San Jose representatives or ballot measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And when they call for police, it’s not the San Jose police that will come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because despite being completely surrounded by San Jose on all sides, Power doesn’t live in San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She lives in the unincorporated island of Burbank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10961044\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10961044\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4738-400x334.jpg\" alt=\"Jane Power stands in front of her home in Burbank, an unincorporated island in San Jose. \" width=\"400\" height=\"334\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4738-400x334.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4738-800x668.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4738-1920x1603.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4738-1180x985.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4738-960x802.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jane Power stands in front of her home in Burbank, an unincorporated island in San Jose. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I like being special and Burbank is special,” says Power, who chairs the \u003ca href=\"http://www.burbanksj.org/\">Burbank Community Association\u003c/a>, a collection of residents who gather to talk about community issues. “There’s a feeling of neighborhood. That’s something that a lot of places in the Bay Area just don’t have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All around San Jose you’ll find islands just like Burbank — small communities that are completely surrounded or bordered by San Jose or Campbell, but aren’t actually part of any city at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some of these islands are open land, many look just like any other neighborhood. Nearly 5,000 people live in Central Burbank alone, and they fall under the jurisdiction of Santa Clara County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10958602\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10958602 size-large\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4757-1920x1280.jpg\" alt=\"Henni Kaufman, Jane Power, Pete Sclafani and Ken Colson, members of the Burbank Community Council, stand in front of Power's home in Burbank.\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4757-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4757-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4757-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4757-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4757-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Henni Kaufman, Jane Power, Pete Sclafani and Ken Colson, members of the Burbank Community Association, stand in front of Power’s home in Burbank. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But what is it that Burbank \u003cem>doesn’t\u003c/em> have that an incorporated city might?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For one, there are no city taxes. There’s no city government or business tax, and if there’s an issue that might sound like a job for city government, residents call their county supervisor. When someone in Burbank calls 911, the county sheriff responds — not San Jose police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/282905937″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burbank’s school district consists of \u003ca href=\"http://www.lbsd.k12.ca.us/Page/1\"> one elementary school \u003c/a>with a different enrollment process than schools just a few miles away. Burbank isn’t connected to San Jose’s sewer system, so in 1940 they established\u003ca href=\"http://www.burbanksanitary.org/\"> their own sanitary district.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burbank residents say they feel removed from the high-rises and tech industries changing San Jose. The small bungalows and Craftsman-style homes built for cannery workers and blue-collar folks leave them with a desire to preserve a way of life that predates the modern definition of Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s almost like the ’50s,” says Henni Kaufman, treasurer of the Burbank Community Association. “I do a lot of yard work and I’m out there and the kids come and talk to me. They ride their bicycles up and down the sidewalk, and neighbors really watch out for one another.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former San Jose resident had no idea that she was moving into an unincorporated community when she bought her home in 1984. Now, the difference is clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘I have the opportunity to do something to improve the quality of the community because it’s manageable.’\u003ccite>Ken Colson, Director of the Burbank Sanitary District\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The community feel translates on a political level, too, says Ken Colson, who sits on the board of directors of the Burbank Sanitary District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have the opportunity to do something to improve the quality of the community [because] it’s manageable,” says Colson. “We can get on the phone and call our county supervisor and he has a staff that responds. The city? [That] would be tough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Historic Artifact\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Jane Power’s home was one of the first houses built in her subdivision in 1905. The bedrooms have no closets and the street in front of her home is so narrow that you can park on only one side of it. Perhaps it was the perfect width for a horse-drawn carriage, but not enough for the cars of today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Areas like Burbank developed long before the neighborhoods around them did, says Bill Shoe, the principal planner of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sccgov.org/sites/dpd/Programs/Islands/Pages/UrbanIslands.aspx\">Santa Clara Planning Department\u003c/a>. In fact, developers began building the first residential tracts in Burbank as early as 1904. Shoe says these islands are a direct result of the way San Jose expanded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re like a window into the history of urbanization in the county,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After World War II, the suburbanization of San Jose mirrored national trends. Returning veterans, the advent of the car and expanding freeways incentivized the city to expand its borders as a way to grow its tax base.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this growth wasn’t always uniform or rational. Because some land was easier to annex than others, the city would skip over pockets of land to continue its outward growth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It resulted in an irregular and dysfunctional set of boundaries,” Shoe says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pockets of land that got skipped over were often neighborhoods with homes built by those who worked at the canneries or in agriculture before the war — long before anyone thought about suburbanization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10961231\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10961231 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/6074154702_c17ae6e62d_o-400x320.jpg\" alt=\"The Burbank Community Theater\" width=\"400\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/6074154702_c17ae6e62d_o-400x320.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/6074154702_c17ae6e62d_o.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Burbank Theater on Bascom Avenue opened in 1949. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/bvna/6074154702/in/photolist-afKCuN-afGWjt-9Q2eb-69rpNv-h2x6F-afKEeS-h2xac-9Q2fB-afGWc2-h2x5e-fmGgu-afGStK-afGSpt-9Q2dN-h2x9o-9Q2dC-h2x6e-afGTXX-afKEGh-afGV8B-9Q2fj-h2x5v-9Q2fN-fmGjX-afGUR6-9Q2gW-afKEvW-afKFFE-h2xb9-h2x7F-9Q2g6-9Q2hs-h2x7f-9Q2ei-h2xc9-9Q2hm-9Q2dw-afKCzd-afKGKE-afGUMg-h2x8p-afGV3g-9Q2gR-afGUfx-fmGhC-h2x8T-afGVZH-h2xaJ-fmGj7-h2xbB\">BVNA\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s a reflection of the history,” says Shoe. “Of the time when cars were not as predominant, and when people still had horses and carriages.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At their peak, there were likely hundreds of unincorporated islands in Santa Clara County, but the county did not keep documentation of these islands until they launched an island annexation program in the 1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2005, the county still had 180 unincorporated areas. Eighty-nine percent of them were smaller than 150 acres. That number has been whittled down to 87 islands that remain today. The largest and most well-known include Burbank, Alum Rock and Cambrian.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Plans to Annex\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>While there aren’t as many unincorporated urban islands as there once were, the county plans to eventually dissolve them all into neighboring and surrounding cities, says Neelima Palacherla, executive officer of the Local Agency Formation Commission of Santa Clara County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Palacherla says the county simply wasn’t built to provide services to unincorporated islands. Sometimes, she says, this system gets confusing for both the county and unincorporated residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There could be a lot of confusion for residents who live in an island regarding who provides services to them in an emergency. Who do they call?” says Palacherla.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New residents, like Henni Kaufman, sometimes have no idea they moved into an unincorporated area. Some don’t find out until an emergency or an election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there are things like sidewalks. In San Jose, all major developments must have sidewalks. In unincorporated islands, they’re simply not required — though sometimes residents put them in themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10954171\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 866px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10954171 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/UnincorporatedSCC.jpg\" alt=\"The unincorporated island of Burbank. \" width=\"866\" height=\"560\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/UnincorporatedSCC.jpg 866w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/UnincorporatedSCC-400x259.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/UnincorporatedSCC-800x517.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The unincorporated island of Burbank. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.sccgov.org/sites/dpd/Programs/Islands/Pages/UrbanIslands.aspx\">Santa Clara Department of Planning and Development\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“By annexing into a city, they know that they’re receiving or will be receiving services from an agency — which is the city — that was created and geared to provide services to their neighborhood and their area, as opposed to the county, which has to provide these services in a very scattered manner,” Palacherla says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But don’t expect mass annexation any time soon. There are plenty of obstacles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because of … just how lengthy [annexation] could be, and how expensive and cumbersome, many of the city’s residents and county are not interested in going through this process,” Palacherla says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Annexation is perceived to be so cumbersome, she says, that the county is working on creating a more streamlined process. The traditional process starts with the proposed annexation, then moves onto zoning designations, community meetings for larger areas, and planning commission and city council hearings. Sometimes, in between all of this, there are protests from residents. In other cases, cities simply don’t see any financial benefit to annexation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most contentious annexation battle in recent history happened in 2011, when San Jose and the neighboring city of Campbell fought to win over the hearts of 1,000 residents in a 103-acre island known as Cambrian 36.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cambrian residents had a strong unincorporated neighborhood association that protested annexation at public hearings in San Jose. The city had its eye on the promise of new tax revenue to be generated by the island’s annexation. The deal ended in a $1 million settlement between the two cities. Campbell got the island, and San Jose got the money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Jose has stepped up its annexation proceedings over the last 10 years, taking over dozens of islands as part of an \u003ca href=\"http://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1632\">annexation collaboration\u003c/a> between the county and San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There might be a time in the near future when it becomes a focus of the cities, but it’s hard to predict,” says Shoe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burbank residents who want to hold onto their unincorporated status are nervous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10958604\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10958604 size-large\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4771-1920x1280.jpg\" alt=\"A welcome sign in Burbank. \" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4771-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4771-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4771-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4771-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4771-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A welcome sign in Burbank. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We in the Burbank area are challenged,” Colson says. “We’re brainstorming how we can keep some semblance of an identity here and keep this kind of character.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents like Jane Power say it’s about saving the community from the redevelopment that has changed San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to keep the unique housing,” she says. “We don’t want to have it bulldozed down and have another high-rise take up three or four lots where we have single-family housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, Shoe says it’s unclear when full annexation of the remaining pockets will happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until then, Burbank will remain exactly the way Jane Power likes it: special.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "For the residents of one unincorporated urban island, there's a uniqueness to their community they want to preserve. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> listener Kristin Seitz was looking at a map of San Jose when she noticed an awful lot of holes. The city’s territory isn’t one undivided shape, but rather resembles a piece of Swiss cheese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seitz wondered: Why are there so many unincorporated “urban islands” in the San Jose area?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To find out, first we went to Jane Power’s house. When you stand on her front porch, you’d think you’re in San Jose. Walk 10 minutes south and you can be at San Jose City College. Drive a few miles east and you can be in the city’s downtown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when Power and her neighbors cast their ballots, they don’t get to vote for San Jose representatives or ballot measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And when they call for police, it’s not the San Jose police that will come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because despite being completely surrounded by San Jose on all sides, Power doesn’t live in San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She lives in the unincorporated island of Burbank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10961044\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10961044\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4738-400x334.jpg\" alt=\"Jane Power stands in front of her home in Burbank, an unincorporated island in San Jose. \" width=\"400\" height=\"334\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4738-400x334.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4738-800x668.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4738-1920x1603.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4738-1180x985.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4738-960x802.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jane Power stands in front of her home in Burbank, an unincorporated island in San Jose. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I like being special and Burbank is special,” says Power, who chairs the \u003ca href=\"http://www.burbanksj.org/\">Burbank Community Association\u003c/a>, a collection of residents who gather to talk about community issues. “There’s a feeling of neighborhood. That’s something that a lot of places in the Bay Area just don’t have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All around San Jose you’ll find islands just like Burbank — small communities that are completely surrounded or bordered by San Jose or Campbell, but aren’t actually part of any city at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some of these islands are open land, many look just like any other neighborhood. Nearly 5,000 people live in Central Burbank alone, and they fall under the jurisdiction of Santa Clara County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10958602\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10958602 size-large\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4757-1920x1280.jpg\" alt=\"Henni Kaufman, Jane Power, Pete Sclafani and Ken Colson, members of the Burbank Community Council, stand in front of Power's home in Burbank.\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4757-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4757-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4757-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4757-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4757-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Henni Kaufman, Jane Power, Pete Sclafani and Ken Colson, members of the Burbank Community Association, stand in front of Power’s home in Burbank. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But what is it that Burbank \u003cem>doesn’t\u003c/em> have that an incorporated city might?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For one, there are no city taxes. There’s no city government or business tax, and if there’s an issue that might sound like a job for city government, residents call their county supervisor. When someone in Burbank calls 911, the county sheriff responds — not San Jose police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='”100%”' height='”166″'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/282905937″&visual=true&”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false”'\n title='”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/282905937″'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burbank’s school district consists of \u003ca href=\"http://www.lbsd.k12.ca.us/Page/1\"> one elementary school \u003c/a>with a different enrollment process than schools just a few miles away. Burbank isn’t connected to San Jose’s sewer system, so in 1940 they established\u003ca href=\"http://www.burbanksanitary.org/\"> their own sanitary district.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burbank residents say they feel removed from the high-rises and tech industries changing San Jose. The small bungalows and Craftsman-style homes built for cannery workers and blue-collar folks leave them with a desire to preserve a way of life that predates the modern definition of Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s almost like the ’50s,” says Henni Kaufman, treasurer of the Burbank Community Association. “I do a lot of yard work and I’m out there and the kids come and talk to me. They ride their bicycles up and down the sidewalk, and neighbors really watch out for one another.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former San Jose resident had no idea that she was moving into an unincorporated community when she bought her home in 1984. Now, the difference is clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘I have the opportunity to do something to improve the quality of the community because it’s manageable.’\u003ccite>Ken Colson, Director of the Burbank Sanitary District\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The community feel translates on a political level, too, says Ken Colson, who sits on the board of directors of the Burbank Sanitary District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have the opportunity to do something to improve the quality of the community [because] it’s manageable,” says Colson. “We can get on the phone and call our county supervisor and he has a staff that responds. The city? [That] would be tough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Historic Artifact\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Jane Power’s home was one of the first houses built in her subdivision in 1905. The bedrooms have no closets and the street in front of her home is so narrow that you can park on only one side of it. Perhaps it was the perfect width for a horse-drawn carriage, but not enough for the cars of today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Areas like Burbank developed long before the neighborhoods around them did, says Bill Shoe, the principal planner of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sccgov.org/sites/dpd/Programs/Islands/Pages/UrbanIslands.aspx\">Santa Clara Planning Department\u003c/a>. In fact, developers began building the first residential tracts in Burbank as early as 1904. Shoe says these islands are a direct result of the way San Jose expanded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re like a window into the history of urbanization in the county,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After World War II, the suburbanization of San Jose mirrored national trends. Returning veterans, the advent of the car and expanding freeways incentivized the city to expand its borders as a way to grow its tax base.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this growth wasn’t always uniform or rational. Because some land was easier to annex than others, the city would skip over pockets of land to continue its outward growth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It resulted in an irregular and dysfunctional set of boundaries,” Shoe says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pockets of land that got skipped over were often neighborhoods with homes built by those who worked at the canneries or in agriculture before the war — long before anyone thought about suburbanization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10961231\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10961231 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/6074154702_c17ae6e62d_o-400x320.jpg\" alt=\"The Burbank Community Theater\" width=\"400\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/6074154702_c17ae6e62d_o-400x320.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/6074154702_c17ae6e62d_o.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Burbank Theater on Bascom Avenue opened in 1949. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/bvna/6074154702/in/photolist-afKCuN-afGWjt-9Q2eb-69rpNv-h2x6F-afKEeS-h2xac-9Q2fB-afGWc2-h2x5e-fmGgu-afGStK-afGSpt-9Q2dN-h2x9o-9Q2dC-h2x6e-afGTXX-afKEGh-afGV8B-9Q2fj-h2x5v-9Q2fN-fmGjX-afGUR6-9Q2gW-afKEvW-afKFFE-h2xb9-h2x7F-9Q2g6-9Q2hs-h2x7f-9Q2ei-h2xc9-9Q2hm-9Q2dw-afKCzd-afKGKE-afGUMg-h2x8p-afGV3g-9Q2gR-afGUfx-fmGhC-h2x8T-afGVZH-h2xaJ-fmGj7-h2xbB\">BVNA\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s a reflection of the history,” says Shoe. “Of the time when cars were not as predominant, and when people still had horses and carriages.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At their peak, there were likely hundreds of unincorporated islands in Santa Clara County, but the county did not keep documentation of these islands until they launched an island annexation program in the 1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2005, the county still had 180 unincorporated areas. Eighty-nine percent of them were smaller than 150 acres. That number has been whittled down to 87 islands that remain today. The largest and most well-known include Burbank, Alum Rock and Cambrian.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Plans to Annex\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>While there aren’t as many unincorporated urban islands as there once were, the county plans to eventually dissolve them all into neighboring and surrounding cities, says Neelima Palacherla, executive officer of the Local Agency Formation Commission of Santa Clara County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Palacherla says the county simply wasn’t built to provide services to unincorporated islands. Sometimes, she says, this system gets confusing for both the county and unincorporated residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There could be a lot of confusion for residents who live in an island regarding who provides services to them in an emergency. Who do they call?” says Palacherla.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New residents, like Henni Kaufman, sometimes have no idea they moved into an unincorporated area. Some don’t find out until an emergency or an election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there are things like sidewalks. In San Jose, all major developments must have sidewalks. In unincorporated islands, they’re simply not required — though sometimes residents put them in themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10954171\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 866px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10954171 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/UnincorporatedSCC.jpg\" alt=\"The unincorporated island of Burbank. \" width=\"866\" height=\"560\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/UnincorporatedSCC.jpg 866w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/UnincorporatedSCC-400x259.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/UnincorporatedSCC-800x517.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The unincorporated island of Burbank. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.sccgov.org/sites/dpd/Programs/Islands/Pages/UrbanIslands.aspx\">Santa Clara Department of Planning and Development\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“By annexing into a city, they know that they’re receiving or will be receiving services from an agency — which is the city — that was created and geared to provide services to their neighborhood and their area, as opposed to the county, which has to provide these services in a very scattered manner,” Palacherla says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But don’t expect mass annexation any time soon. There are plenty of obstacles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because of … just how lengthy [annexation] could be, and how expensive and cumbersome, many of the city’s residents and county are not interested in going through this process,” Palacherla says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Annexation is perceived to be so cumbersome, she says, that the county is working on creating a more streamlined process. The traditional process starts with the proposed annexation, then moves onto zoning designations, community meetings for larger areas, and planning commission and city council hearings. Sometimes, in between all of this, there are protests from residents. In other cases, cities simply don’t see any financial benefit to annexation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most contentious annexation battle in recent history happened in 2011, when San Jose and the neighboring city of Campbell fought to win over the hearts of 1,000 residents in a 103-acre island known as Cambrian 36.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cambrian residents had a strong unincorporated neighborhood association that protested annexation at public hearings in San Jose. The city had its eye on the promise of new tax revenue to be generated by the island’s annexation. The deal ended in a $1 million settlement between the two cities. Campbell got the island, and San Jose got the money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Jose has stepped up its annexation proceedings over the last 10 years, taking over dozens of islands as part of an \u003ca href=\"http://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1632\">annexation collaboration\u003c/a> between the county and San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There might be a time in the near future when it becomes a focus of the cities, but it’s hard to predict,” says Shoe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burbank residents who want to hold onto their unincorporated status are nervous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10958604\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10958604 size-large\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4771-1920x1280.jpg\" alt=\"A welcome sign in Burbank. \" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4771-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4771-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4771-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4771-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/05/0M6A4771-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A welcome sign in Burbank. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We in the Burbank area are challenged,” Colson says. “We’re brainstorming how we can keep some semblance of an identity here and keep this kind of character.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents like Jane Power say it’s about saving the community from the redevelopment that has changed San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to keep the unique housing,” she says. “We don’t want to have it bulldozed down and have another high-rise take up three or four lots where we have single-family housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, Shoe says it’s unclear when full annexation of the remaining pockets will happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until then, Burbank will remain exactly the way Jane Power likes it: special.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "is-air-quality-in-the-bay-area-getting-worse",
"title": "Is Air Quality in the Bay Area Getting Worse?",
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"headTitle": "Is Air Quality in the Bay Area Getting Worse? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Jenny Wread is one of several KQED listeners who wanted to know more about air quality in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, she was commuting regularly between Marin and the East Bay and noticed a lot of smog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So she contacted Bay Curious, and we met up for a stroll in Berkeley recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11285053\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11285053\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-1020x1099.jpeg\" alt=\"Question-asker Jenny Wread with her children.\" width=\"300\" height=\"323\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-1020x1099.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-160x172.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-800x862.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-1920x2069.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-1180x1271.jpeg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-960x1034.jpeg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-240x259.jpeg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-375x404.jpeg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-520x560.jpeg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Question-asker Jenny Wread with her children. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Jenny Wread)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Look at the trees,” she said. “They don’t look green. It’s like looking through a dirty window. Everything’s gray!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wread’s hypothesis: “My guess is that there’s just a lot more cars on the road and the air quality has gotten worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>How do we measure air quality?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>We took Wread’s concern to the experts. The \u003ca href=\"http://www.baaqmd.gov/\">Bay Area Air Quality Management District\u003c/a> is the agency that monitors our air. Eric Stevenson oversees the agency’s monitoring network of 35 stations. He says there’s at least one station in each Bay Area county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The measuring posts are in city centers and rural spots, to get a range of data. Stevenson says there are also monitoring stations near industrial pollution sources like refineries, power plants and ports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stations can look like mini trailers by the side of the road or probes on the tops of buildings. They’re made to be pretty unobtrusive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re continually taking measurements of various pollutants. The Environmental Protection Agency requires monitoring of six so-called criteria pollutants: carbon monoxide, lead, ozone, particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11284899\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 457px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11284899 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/air-monitoring-station.jpg\" alt=\"Example of an air monitoring station. The Air District runs a network of 35 stations throughout the Bay Area.\" width=\"457\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/air-monitoring-station.jpg 457w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/air-monitoring-station-160x224.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/air-monitoring-station-240x336.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/air-monitoring-station-375x525.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 457px) 100vw, 457px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An air monitoring station. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District runs a network of 35 stations throughout the Bay Area. \u003ccite>(Bay Area Air Quality Management District)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The two most harmful to human health are ozone and particulate matter called PM2.5 (which includes all particulate matter 2.5 micrometers or smaller).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ozone comes from cars, power plants and refineries, when emissions react with sunlight. It’s a bigger problem in the summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Particulate matter comes from emissions and from burning things. It could originate from industrial sources like a power plant or even a cozy fire in your fireplace. Particulate matter is more of a wintertime concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we talk about air quality, we’re talking about concentrations of these pollutants.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>How dirty is it?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>It turns out that the air in the Bay Area is among the cleanest in the nation for a metropolitan area of its size.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stevenson at BAAQMD says air pollution in the Bay Area has been decreasing over time, and is way down since the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.vitalsigns.mtc.ca.gov/ozone-concentrations\">Average ozone levels\u003c/a> in the Bay Area have dropped by more than a third from their peak in the 1970s. \u003ca href=\"http://www.vitalsigns.mtc.ca.gov/particulate-concentrations\">Particulate matter concentration\u003c/a> has dropped almost 40 percent since the air district started measuring it in 2000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stevenson said the biggest reason for the improvement is stricter regulations on emissions from cars and industrial sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The California Air Resources Board has authority over cars and they set very strict limits,” he said. “Cars now are significantly cleaner than the ’70s and ’80s. That has really helped improve air quality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Clean Air Act allows California to set stricter standards than the federal government on emissions from cars. Good to note: The state needs a waiver from the EPA to set the stricter threshold, and different administrations have differed on whether to allow it. Some are worried that \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2017/01/10/trump-congress-could-halt-state-action-on-climate/\">it may be\u003c/a> halted under a Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>What about Spare the Air alerts?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Wread was convinced the air was dirtier in the Bay Area because she was hearing more Spare the Air alerts. The air district issues alerts when it appears that pollution levels will exceed national standards for safety. The idea is to get people to drive less and not put more pollution into the air by, say, burning stuff. KQED and other stations broadcast these alerts as a public service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether people follow the advice is \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/05/27/do-people-drive-less-on-spare-the-air-days/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">another story\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It used to be just in the summertime, a couple of days. Now you get them in the winter and all summer long,” Wread said. “It’s like year-round now!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this, Wread is correct. The air district called 27 Spare the Air days in the summer of 2016, which is \u003ca href=\"http://sparetheair.org/stay-informed/ozone/ozone-box-scores\">three times as many as the previous \u003c/a>summer and significantly higher than any year since 1996, which had 25 alerts. (Wintertime alerts are \u003ca href=\"http://sparetheair.org/stay-informed/particulate-matter/pm-box-scores\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tracked separately\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Does that necessarily mean that air quality is worse? It turns out, no. And here’s why.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Air Quality Management District says the actual reason there are more Spare the Air alerts now is because in 2015 the Environmental Protection Agency tightened the standards for ozone levels from 75 parts per billion to 70 parts per billion. The air district had to call more alerts to meet the new standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So while Wread’s logic was sound, the data she was using had shifted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[bapopgrowth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Air inequality\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>While air quality has improved overall in the Bay Area, not everyone is breathing the same air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West Oakland and Bayview-Hunters Point in San Francisco are two hot spots that are more polluted because they’re near major sources of pollution like ports and freeways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John Balmes of UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley says neighborhoods that are more polluted often have some things in common.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They tend to be in communities of color with lower socioeconomic status where there’s lots of stuff going on, typically more freeways, power plants, refineries and other kinds of transportation corridors,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Balmes says these communities are at greater risk for health problems like \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/tag/asthma/\">asthma\u003c/a> and heart conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite this inequity, there is a silver lining. All over the Bay Area, air quality is getting better. Balmes says that partly we can thank stricter rules on heavy-duty diesel trucks that often operate near industrial sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s still a disparity,” he says, “But everywhere has gotten better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>What about L.A.?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Whether it’s a baseball game or good food or average ozone levels, Bay Area locals love to beat L.A.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, how does our air compare? Well, L.A. is, literally, the worst.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, bragging rights might not really be earned here, because Stevenson says a lot of it has to do with factors beyond our control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The L.A. basin is kind of a bowl,” he says. “And it’s hot and so that forms ozone. We can’t blame it all on them. They would have these problems even if people didn’t live there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area, on the other hand, is pretty fortunate when it comes to how topography affects air quality. Strong winds called prevailing westerlies push dirty air east all the way to the Sierra. Many argue that pollution from the Bay Area (\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2015/03/31/is-pollution-from-asia-making-the-central-valleys-bad-air-even-worse/\">and maybe Asia\u003c/a>) contributes to poor air quality in the inland San Joaquin Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, for now Bay Area residents, you can breathe a sigh of relief and know it was a relatively clean one.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "There were 27 Spare the Air alerts last summer. But our air quality is actually looking up.",
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"title": "Is Air Quality in the Bay Area Getting Worse? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Jenny Wread is one of several KQED listeners who wanted to know more about air quality in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, she was commuting regularly between Marin and the East Bay and noticed a lot of smog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So she contacted Bay Curious, and we met up for a stroll in Berkeley recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11285053\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11285053\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-1020x1099.jpeg\" alt=\"Question-asker Jenny Wread with her children.\" width=\"300\" height=\"323\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-1020x1099.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-160x172.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-800x862.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-1920x2069.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-1180x1271.jpeg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-960x1034.jpeg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-240x259.jpeg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-375x404.jpeg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/Jenny_AirQualityQA-520x560.jpeg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Question-asker Jenny Wread with her children. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Jenny Wread)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Look at the trees,” she said. “They don’t look green. It’s like looking through a dirty window. Everything’s gray!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wread’s hypothesis: “My guess is that there’s just a lot more cars on the road and the air quality has gotten worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>How do we measure air quality?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>We took Wread’s concern to the experts. The \u003ca href=\"http://www.baaqmd.gov/\">Bay Area Air Quality Management District\u003c/a> is the agency that monitors our air. Eric Stevenson oversees the agency’s monitoring network of 35 stations. He says there’s at least one station in each Bay Area county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The measuring posts are in city centers and rural spots, to get a range of data. Stevenson says there are also monitoring stations near industrial pollution sources like refineries, power plants and ports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stations can look like mini trailers by the side of the road or probes on the tops of buildings. They’re made to be pretty unobtrusive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re continually taking measurements of various pollutants. The Environmental Protection Agency requires monitoring of six so-called criteria pollutants: carbon monoxide, lead, ozone, particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11284899\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 457px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11284899 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/air-monitoring-station.jpg\" alt=\"Example of an air monitoring station. The Air District runs a network of 35 stations throughout the Bay Area.\" width=\"457\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/air-monitoring-station.jpg 457w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/air-monitoring-station-160x224.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/air-monitoring-station-240x336.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/air-monitoring-station-375x525.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 457px) 100vw, 457px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An air monitoring station. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District runs a network of 35 stations throughout the Bay Area. \u003ccite>(Bay Area Air Quality Management District)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The two most harmful to human health are ozone and particulate matter called PM2.5 (which includes all particulate matter 2.5 micrometers or smaller).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ozone comes from cars, power plants and refineries, when emissions react with sunlight. It’s a bigger problem in the summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Particulate matter comes from emissions and from burning things. It could originate from industrial sources like a power plant or even a cozy fire in your fireplace. Particulate matter is more of a wintertime concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we talk about air quality, we’re talking about concentrations of these pollutants.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>How dirty is it?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>It turns out that the air in the Bay Area is among the cleanest in the nation for a metropolitan area of its size.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stevenson at BAAQMD says air pollution in the Bay Area has been decreasing over time, and is way down since the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.vitalsigns.mtc.ca.gov/ozone-concentrations\">Average ozone levels\u003c/a> in the Bay Area have dropped by more than a third from their peak in the 1970s. \u003ca href=\"http://www.vitalsigns.mtc.ca.gov/particulate-concentrations\">Particulate matter concentration\u003c/a> has dropped almost 40 percent since the air district started measuring it in 2000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stevenson said the biggest reason for the improvement is stricter regulations on emissions from cars and industrial sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The California Air Resources Board has authority over cars and they set very strict limits,” he said. “Cars now are significantly cleaner than the ’70s and ’80s. That has really helped improve air quality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Clean Air Act allows California to set stricter standards than the federal government on emissions from cars. Good to note: The state needs a waiver from the EPA to set the stricter threshold, and different administrations have differed on whether to allow it. Some are worried that \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2017/01/10/trump-congress-could-halt-state-action-on-climate/\">it may be\u003c/a> halted under a Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>What about Spare the Air alerts?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Wread was convinced the air was dirtier in the Bay Area because she was hearing more Spare the Air alerts. The air district issues alerts when it appears that pollution levels will exceed national standards for safety. The idea is to get people to drive less and not put more pollution into the air by, say, burning stuff. KQED and other stations broadcast these alerts as a public service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether people follow the advice is \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/05/27/do-people-drive-less-on-spare-the-air-days/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">another story\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It used to be just in the summertime, a couple of days. Now you get them in the winter and all summer long,” Wread said. “It’s like year-round now!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this, Wread is correct. The air district called 27 Spare the Air days in the summer of 2016, which is \u003ca href=\"http://sparetheair.org/stay-informed/ozone/ozone-box-scores\">three times as many as the previous \u003c/a>summer and significantly higher than any year since 1996, which had 25 alerts. (Wintertime alerts are \u003ca href=\"http://sparetheair.org/stay-informed/particulate-matter/pm-box-scores\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tracked separately\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Does that necessarily mean that air quality is worse? It turns out, no. And here’s why.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Air Quality Management District says the actual reason there are more Spare the Air alerts now is because in 2015 the Environmental Protection Agency tightened the standards for ozone levels from 75 parts per billion to 70 parts per billion. The air district had to call more alerts to meet the new standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So while Wread’s logic was sound, the data she was using had shifted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[bapopgrowth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Air inequality\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>While air quality has improved overall in the Bay Area, not everyone is breathing the same air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West Oakland and Bayview-Hunters Point in San Francisco are two hot spots that are more polluted because they’re near major sources of pollution like ports and freeways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John Balmes of UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley says neighborhoods that are more polluted often have some things in common.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They tend to be in communities of color with lower socioeconomic status where there’s lots of stuff going on, typically more freeways, power plants, refineries and other kinds of transportation corridors,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Balmes says these communities are at greater risk for health problems like \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/tag/asthma/\">asthma\u003c/a> and heart conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite this inequity, there is a silver lining. All over the Bay Area, air quality is getting better. Balmes says that partly we can thank stricter rules on heavy-duty diesel trucks that often operate near industrial sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s still a disparity,” he says, “But everywhere has gotten better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>What about L.A.?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Whether it’s a baseball game or good food or average ozone levels, Bay Area locals love to beat L.A.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, how does our air compare? Well, L.A. is, literally, the worst.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, bragging rights might not really be earned here, because Stevenson says a lot of it has to do with factors beyond our control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The L.A. basin is kind of a bowl,” he says. “And it’s hot and so that forms ozone. We can’t blame it all on them. They would have these problems even if people didn’t live there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area, on the other hand, is pretty fortunate when it comes to how topography affects air quality. Strong winds called prevailing westerlies push dirty air east all the way to the Sierra. Many argue that pollution from the Bay Area (\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2015/03/31/is-pollution-from-asia-making-the-central-valleys-bad-air-even-worse/\">and maybe Asia\u003c/a>) contributes to poor air quality in the inland San Joaquin Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, for now Bay Area residents, you can breathe a sigh of relief and know it was a relatively clean one.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
"title": "Close All Tabs",
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
"link": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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}
},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/4s8b",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
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